Of Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Bruisers 0

The Arse 2
(Toure 37th, Henry 71st)

If viewed with a cynical eye, it is not a bad strategy - launch a mad dog to take out the linchpin who holds together the opponent's back four and hope that he retaliates.

But Mark Hughes, though formerly a battler on the pitch, is not someone who stoops that low - despite being a former ManUre player.

So the only explanation of his actions in the 13th minute is that Robbie Savage acted on his own accord. And only a mad dog, and not an Englishman, would stoop down that low.

As I saw it on replays a couple of times when Gilberto turned his back to Savage to shield a pass, the Blackburn midfielder launched himself from 3 metres away and barged into the unsuspecting Brazilian who was knocked off his feet.

The Arse vice-captain while on the ground continued shielding the ball - a smart move considering the inconsistent refereeing nowadays - but Savage wasn't finished yet.

He continued hustling Gilberto and even caught the man's back and chest a couple of times with his knees while the Brazilian was still on his knees.

Gilberto pushed the mad dog off with his forearm and got to his feet quickly but his right boot was seen flashing towards Savage as he was getting up and Savage promptly collapsed clutching his right leg.

I'm still not convinced that Gilberto made contact nor if he actually kicked out. It looked like he was a bit unbalanced when he tried to get up and so took a wide stance in the direction of his body's movement at that moment.

But Savage's reaction convinced the referee that contact was made and that it was made deliberately. So it was a straight red for the Brazilian.

Was it really a red? See the pics below for yourself.

(All photos belong to Associated Press)

This pic shows either the time of the alleged contact or just after. Gilberto is trying to get up after pushing Savage away with his forearm.
Look at the distance between Gilberto's right boot and Savage's right boot.
How hard could have the contact been, really? Note that Gilberto's left knee is firmly grounded.

Here Robbie is airborne like a scalded cat, flying mane and all.
He takes off on his left foot and swings his right behind - making it look like a hard contact. Gilberto is just getting up, left knee barely above the ground.

Robbie goes down clutching his shin pad - oh yeah, that shin pad must be in real agony, innit?
Gilberto is thinking, "Oh shit, am I in deep doo-doo now,"

Savage rolls on the ground, hand firmly pressing his still-painful shin pad.
His acting is so good that Gilberto starts to worry.
His worries were not misplaced in the end.

So there we were in Ewood Park, down to 10 men. Apparently Savage appealed to the ref not to send Gilberto off but as Arsene said after the game, it must have been his guilty conscience.

But the boys kept their heads and after 90 minutes they showed that man-for-man, ten of them were way better than the full Blackburn 11.

First the captain floated a beautiful free-kick into the Blackburn box.
There was only Toure and 5 Blackburn players (two jumping with him here).

Guess who smacked a header in off the near post?

Then Cesc, who played very well (again) last night, took an Henry pass, ran with it as Henry ran past, then flicked it onto his captain's path.
There were 6 Blackburn players in the box and just Cesc and Henry.

Thierry put this one away and the Blackburn crowd came to its feet and gave him a spontaneous ovation.

The old colonial-era phrase, "only mad dogs and Englishmen" used to refer to the fact that the Malayan sun is so hot that only mad dogs and Englishmen would be out in it at midday.

The mad dogs do it for no apparent reason while the Englishmen would do it for their love of cricket.

In Robbie Savage's case, it's more of a mad dog loose in an Englishmen League. And it is definitely not cricket.

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Having the last laugh after the game.