Friday 24th March - World Cup Qualifiers (European)

[Stan]

Republic of Ireland vs Wales probably the pick of the games there. 

[Honey Honey]

Ireland v Wales is a very tasty Championship level game tonight.

If Wales lose then automatic qualification is probably over for them and it may even be a struggle to get playoffs.

[Toony]

If Wales don't get out of that poor group it just goes to show how much of a flash in the pan the Euros were.

I think it'll be a draw.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Tough game tonight, but Ireland have a couple of injury concerns and this is the first time we have been able to field a full strength side since twatting Belgium. 

However, our defence must improve as this was the primary reason we qualified for Euro 2016.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Half Time - 0-0 and been a relatively poor match so far.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Neil Taylor sent off, straight red. Suspected broken leg for Coleman and Cannabis will be pissed.

[DeadLinesman]

They didn't show a replay so it must be a bad one.

[DeadLinesman]

[WhoNose]

Wales aren't going to Russia. See you at the Euros boys

[HK85]

Coleman always gets injured before an Anfield Derby. 

[Dan+]

He might never properly recover from that. Absolutely horrendous. Feel a lot for him.

[Toony]

That's an absolute shocker of a break, never saw the match or the tackle but that's one that, like Dan said, he may never recover from. He's a class player too.

As for the match, sounded woeful.

[DeadLinesman]

Ouchy.

[SirBalon]

Spain 4-1 Israel

Goals from David Silva, Vitolo, Diego Costa and Isco. Refaelov scored for Israel.

[True Blue]

That leg break is terrible, hope he can recover and return. Not certain if Taylor meant to hurt Coleman but a wild challenge there was no need for it.

[Stan]

Coleman's leg breaking like that made me feel physically sick. Horrific and nasty.

Feel sorry for him as he's one of those 'nice guys' in football. I know that's a bit of a cliche in football but he is the epitome of just being a all round decent person on and off the pitch. 

[Inverted]

Besides being a generally poor footballer, Neil Taylor has a history of being a clumsy, negligent bastard when it comes to challenges.

Genuinely pisses me off when you get the whole "he didn't mean it", "not that type of player" shite. As if anything is excusable in football except pre-meditated assault. When you throw yourself around, making coward's challenges, with no thought for your opponent, and it's shown you do so consistently, you should get the fucking book thrown at you.

In fact, the punishments available aren't enough for these types of players, who are happy to run the risk of doing this to fellow professionals, but make sure they themselves are never in any serious danger. 

[WhoNose]

Taylor shouldn't be anywhere near this Welsh squad in the first place. Shocking challenge, history of it.

[Toony]

It's a sickening challenge but I don't believe for one minute that he'll have gone in to intentionally hurt him.

[Mel81x+]

That broken leg is horrid and when you watch the video in slow motion and see him tumble one can only imagine the amount of pain he was in when he went to ground. Hope he recovers from it soon.

[Dave]

I think Neil Taylor intentionally went in so Seamus Coleman would 'feel it' if that makes sense. Obviously didn't mean to seriously injure him and potentially ruin his career. I think it deserves a lengthy international ban to be honest.

On the plus side it looks like all those English born players who celebrated like they won the World Cup when England lost to Iceland won't be going to Russia. 

[Guest Cannabis]

Hope there's a lengthy ban handed to Taylor and this incident makes it all the more amusing that Wales have now gone back into their international shell of nothingness.

See you all in 52 years.

[Burning Gold]

Good article from Wayne Farry of joe.co.uk here about the incident https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/why-not-that-kind-of-player-is-pointless-to-seamus-coleman-until-football-acts-on-recklessless-118863

Basically argues that the reason challenges like this are still relatively prevalent in football is that they often go unpunished if the player 'gets away with it', ie. the victim escapes without serious injury. He cites Bale's challenge on O'Shea shortly before Taylor's on Coleman.

 

I think this in an area that retrospective action is absolutely needed and not taking further action because 'the referee saw it and dealt with it' just isn't good enough. You see a potential leg breaker every few weeks in the Premier League and whether or not a serious injury occurs simply comes down to luck. The governing bodies need to make sure they're all punished with equal severity to stamp them out of the game.

Unfortunately, what I think will actually happen is that this pathetic, arse-covering policy will remain in place and referees will crack down on all hard challenges, even the perfectly fair ones, and we'll see more players sent off for tackles that shouldn't have even been fouls.

[Toony]

30 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Hope there's a lengthy ban handed to Taylor and this incident makes it all the more amusing that Wales have now gone back into their international shell of nothingness.

See you all in 52 years.

I can't see him being given anything other than the usual ban for a red card UNLESS they think he's gone in with intention to hurt and ultimately break Coleman's leg.