His next booking is going to be his 10th. Considering how much of a liability he's looked at times when defending, and how often he's been used in a defensive role, it's remarkable that he's only had 9 since he moved to England in August 2010.
No idea what they were for, I was just looking on soccerbase to see if he'd had any red cards (guaranteed to have missed a game) and noticed he hardly seemed to get booked either.
He's not a hard tackler, he rarely flies into a challenge or anything, he defends by keeping in front of his man and holding him off. Most his tackles are just nipping a foot in at the right time. His liabilities in defence are all from switching off and letting his man go beyond him (something I might add I don't think he's done once this season) which are irrelevant to him getting booked. The stat isn't actually all that surprising imo.
If you let your man past you it's not unusual, especially these days, to get a booking for either pulling him back or tripping him in an attempt to get back. When I say tripping, I mean going within 5 yards of the back of him at the edge of the area just as the sniper shoots him, prompting the ref to award the freekick/penalty.
Not an open-play situation admittedly, but he switched off for Spurs' equaliser, standing statue-still while Kane (his man) ran on to slot the rebound home. If you can find a replay you might see Dawson having a massive go at him afterwards.
True story... Elmo's middle name is indefatigable. His bones are made of adamantium, and his legs were found in the props bin on the set of something starring a bloke called Steve Austin. Paul Duffen claims to have found them whilst looking for Phil Brown's tanning salon, and allegedly getting a bit lost while trying to steer his yacht. His lung capacity is he same size as Wembley stadium, and his blood vessels, of placed end on end, would reach the moon. He has won awards for dancing on several foreign tv stations, and was the inspiration for the film St Elmos Fire, after a producer from Hollywood saw him burning up the right wing. He has a pet tiger called Mo. And I would struggle to fill his shoes.
They couldn't have it more wrong, could they? Not only do they get all those supposed "faults" wrong, but they miss the one thing that genuinely IS a negative in his game; the propensity to dive at every opportunity!
His defending has been covered by others, more; but when called upon (as, Tuuckin, points out) he has definitely wobbled - we've just wobbled more elsewhere. His excitable gob would be a big threat for cards.
Brilliantly put Shoes. With all his extraordinary attributes I'm amazed he hasn't attracted substantial bids from the top clubs here or in Europe. Shhhhhh!!
