McMahon v Jones & Whiteside

[fred milne]

Joy of Six: Symbolic reducers

 

From Roy Keane's humbling of Holland to Robert Pires' fiercest, indeed first, tackle.

Guardian UnlimitedJuly 23, 2007 3:06 PM

 

1. Roy Keane on Marc Overmars, Republic of Ireland 1-0 Holland, World Cup qualifier, September 1 2001

 

The cocky Dutch sashayed into Dublin convinced they'd get the victory they needed to stay on course for the following year's World Cup - indeed, their ever-humble manager Louis van Gaal claimed his side were so much more skilful than their hosts that even Irish fans would prefer them to win. Ireland may have outplayed the Oranje when drawing 2-2 in Amsterdam a year previously, but the Dutch had been depleted by injury - this time they brought their entire galaxy of stars (except drug-busted Edgar Davids), meaning the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Patrick Kluivert, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Marc Overmars and Pierre van Hooijdonk would be let loose on an Irish defence that was missing three of its usual starters.

 

Lansdowne Road jangled with nervous tension, but there was also something crazy in the air - and one man was determined to ensure the Dutch knew there was also madness on the pitch: 35 seconds into the game, Roy Keane crunched into Overmars like a tank into shack, almost crushing the little winger underfoot as Kluivert, seemingly on the verge of tears, hopped up and down in impotent outrage. The referee - a German, as Dutch journalists pointedly noted - didn't even book Ireland's captain. A minute later, the still-flustered Kluivert was sent through one-on-one with Shay Given ... and steered his shot wide. Thus were laid the foundations for a famous Irish victory.

 

2. Robert Pires on Patrick Vieira - Arsenal 2-0 Juventus, Champions League quarter-finals, first leg, March 28 2006

 

When Juventus visited Highbury in March 2006, the pre-game chatter was almost entirely devoted to one player - Patrick Vieira. But by the night's end Arsenal were being lauded as potential tournament winners after Cesc Fabregas had comprehensively subdued the former Gunner in the middle of the park. Yet it was not Fabregas, but rather Robert Pires, who instigated the match's defining moment - by dispossessing Vieira with a challenge so out of character that Highbury was still in shock when Fabregas crowned the subsequent attack with an opening goal. Five minutes before half-time Vieira had just picked up the ball and looked set to drive a trademark run into Arsenal territory when Pires, tracking back probably for the first time in his career, charged alongside his erstwhile team-mate and slid in, hooking his leg around the ball and toppling Vieira headfirst onto the turf. Pires leapt to his feet, laid the ball off to Thierry Henry, and within 10 seconds the ball was in the net.

 

"It is the first time I have done that in my 13-year career," beamed Pires afterwards. "I even surprised myself!" More importantly, he had ambushed Vieira - sabotaging the already fragile confidence of a man who was being savaged for recent performances in the Italian press and who was being upstaged on his old stomping ground by a petulant 18-year-old from Spain. Now humiliated by the last man on the pitch he would have expected to beat him at his own game, Vieira was done.

 

3. Benjamin Massing (and chums) on Claudio Caniggia, Argentina 0-1 Cameroon, World Cup, June 8 1990

 

Italia 90 was only the third time a sub-Saharan African team had qualified for the World Cup. In 1974 Zaire had gone out in the group stages after a 9-0 scalping by Yugoslavia, that free-kick and rumours of the Zaire government pocketing the players' wages. In 1982 Cameroon put in a credible performance, only failing to progress from the group stages on goals scored. Their 1990 counterparts ran out in the first game against Argentina to the usual patronising murmurings of African "naivety and indiscipline" and, in all honesty, some of their defending was riotous. But, by God, did it work.

 

Cameroon restricted Diego Maradona by putting two or three men at a time on him, and took the lead in the 67th minute. Argentina were already bruised (André Kana-Biyick had been sent off in the 61st minute) when Claudio Caniggia scampered through in the last few minutes. Two Cameroon players attempted to bring him down, before Benjamin Massing kicked him so hard that his boot flew off. It was not only a statement that Cameroon were a side that would not be intimidated, it was a signal that this was to be a bloody, brawling World Cup. "Just after that match, we saw ourselves as world champions. And the results were there to show," said Cameroon's captain Stephen Tataw. With Argentina out of the way, his side had the confidence to play football with a little more lyricism, and with Roger Milla unleashed, they made it to the quarter-finals before losing - unluckily - to England.

 

4. Vinnie Jones on Steve McMahon, Wimbledon 1-0 Liverpool, FA Cup final, May 14 1988

 

Liverpool were the Team of the Decade. They had romped to the league title and were stick-on favourites to win their second Double in three years. They had 90% of the fans inside Wembley. How on earth could they lose to Wimbledon then, a team that had only entered the Football League 11 years earlier and that stayed out drinking until 11pm the night before the biggest game in the club's history? According to Crazy Gang boss Bobby Gould, it was because they were petrified.

 

The Dons' don Vinnie Jones, sent off 12 times in his career, believed that if he could stop Steve McMahon, Wimbledon could stop Liverpool. In The Spirit of Wimbledon: Footballing Memories of the Dons 1922-2003, John Fashanu says: "At 3.01pm Vinnie went in for a tackle with Steve McMahon and that was the key moment. The tackle started at his throat and ended at his ankle. That was the game won; psychologically we had made our mark." Jones had taken lock and stock and should have been dismissed; but he reasoned the referee couldn't brandish his red card in the first minute in front of 100,000 people. McMahon never recovered from that assault, just as Liverpool never coped with Wimbledon's pre-match gamesmanship and "Yidaho!" war-cries in the tunnel. Dave Beasant's penalty save and Lawrie Sanchez's headed goal might be the moments best remembered from that weird and wonderful day, but it was Jones's own Anfield Rap that set the tone.

 

5. Norman Whiteside on Steve McMahon (Liverpool 3-3 Manchester United, Anfield, April 4 1988)

 

In the pre-sanitisation world of 1980s football, contests between Liverpool and Manchester United, particularly at Anfield, were so hate-filled that they should probably have occurred after the watershed. No matter how many titles they won, Liverpool always had a problem with United, and beat them just once at Anfield in the league all decade. Even their sensational 1987-88 side, when 3-1 up and against 10 men after the sending off of Colin Gibson, couldn't force victory after Norman Whiteside came off the bench to raise hell.

 

Liverpool's phony hard-man Steve McMahon, who had just toebunged in a superb third, was the c**k of the walk in midfield. But he could barely walk when Whiteside came off the bench and, without even touching the ball, clattered him before whispering something sinister in his ear. Enough said. McMahon knew that he would not walk alone for the rest of the game, and he didn't fancy it at all. With Whiteside taking over midfield, United's 10 men came back for a famous 3-3 draw. "I remember John Barnes getting an elbow in the Adam's apple," says Whiteside. "I got him round the throat and then Steve McMahon tried to come near me and I think I stood on his little toe or something like that. I thought his little toe was around about his shin though, didn't I?"

 

6. Jose Batista on Gordon Strachan, Uruguay 0-0 Scotland, World Cup, June 13 1986

 

Scotland needed a win to qualify for the second stage, Uruguay a draw, and it was clear from the start that Uruguay had absolutely no interest - in any sense - in playing ball. Within a minute Jose Batista took a shortcut through the back of Gordon Strachan; in truth, in the climate of the time it deserved only a yellow card, but Joel Quiniou sent him off. The effect was threefold: it stunned Scotland, it made Uruguay even more committed to their plan of kicking their way into the knockout stages - and, most crucially, it changed Quiniou's take on the game.

 

At first applauded for taking no nonsense and sending off Batista, it slowly became apparent that he did not have the bottle to reduce Uruguay to nine men, even though the game was littered with fouls as bad as, if not worse than, Batista's. So Uruguay had carte blanche to cart Scotland all over the field - at times the brutality was mind-boggling - and got their goalless draw with ease.

 

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/07/...c_reducers.html

[Spike]

Missed Luis's career ending stomp on Keane

[Elisha_Scott]

What a pile of s****. Whiteside on Mcmahon. How was that one of the best reducers ever?

f*** off, how about Gerrard on that Crystal Palace winger in the 2nd leg of the league cup semi on 01?

Or, Ronnie Whelan on Bryan Robson every b*****d time he faced him?

Graeme Souness on everyone all the time?

[Ostrich Man]

i tend to agree with you that after leaving United a career is generally over (poor heinze)... but the above isnt really true now is it spike...ended his career would have meant not playing for another league title winning team now would it....or indeed any club.

[Ostrich Man]

How was that one of the best reducers ever?

f*** off, how about Gerrard on that Crystal Palace winger in the 2nd leg of the league cup semi on 01?

 

reducer.....crystal palace winger....01.

[StevieC]

Can't help but think the reported doesn't like McMahon too much.

 

Best reducer ever has to be the Beast of Bilbao crippling Maradona.

[Bootle Buck]

In the early 70's there were too many to mention who would have made mincemeat of the likes of Vinnie Jones and Norman Whiteside. Dave Mackay, Norman Hunter, Ron Harris and our own Tommy Smith left many wondering if they would ever play again. I will never forget when Smithy had a hold of Latchford by the throat in a heated Derby. I swear to this day Latchford's feet were off the ground. The pure fear in his face was magic.

[Earl Hafler]

Can't help but think the reported doesn't like McMahon too much.

 

Best reducer ever has to be the Beast of Bilbao crippling Maradona.

 

Or Schumacher in 82.

 

That list is outstanding for the tackles not mentioned - me thinks the Grauniad are doing this on purpose to highten response. The worst players list without Bramble was a list fit for an Emperor.

[Elisha_Scott]

 

reducer.....crystal palace winger....01.

 

Your point?

[Elisha_Scott]

In the early 70's there were too many to mention who would have made mincemeat of the likes of Vinnie Jones and Norman Whiteside. Dave Mackay, Norman Hunter, Ron Harris and our own Tommy Smith left many wondering if they would ever play again. I will never forget when Smithy had a hold of Latchford by the throat in a heated Derby. I swear to this day Latchford's feet were off the ground. The pure fear in his face was magic.

 

The best scared face ever was Freund when Duncan Ferguson grabbed him by the throat, he absolutely s*** himself.

 

[jfogarty]

A tackle I will always remember fondly is Redknapps on Beckham in '99. Creased him

 

Still dont know how we lost that match

[Bao]

Graeme Souness on everyone all the time?

FACT

 

McMahon got plenty of stick from Reds for letting Vinnie Jones put him out of the Cup Final like that. I remember one of the fanzines back then having some kind of 'hardman' McMahon cartoon that ended up with a wimper 'Sure, here you are Vinnie. You take the ball.'

[fyds]

Ron Yeats on John Aston, Anfield circa 1969 - a 50-50 ball that saw Aston end up about 50 feet in the air and landing on his head. A collective 'ooooh' went through the crowd. A few weeks later it was Ron's turn to take out Joe Royle in similar fashion - this time he was carried off.

[John am Rhein]

The referee - a German, as Dutch journalists pointedly noted

 

 

You'll never get your bikes back!

[John am Rhein]

As far as 'reducing' goes, Souness' intimidation of Dinamo Bucharest (away) in 1984 is the masterclass.

[Murphman]

Whelan and Molby bashing holy feck out of Reid in the first 5 minutes of the 1986 final, bad cop, bad cop.

[fred milne]

how about Gerrard on that Crystal Palace winger in the 2nd leg of the league cup semi on 01?

There was also the tackle on Dacourt at Elland Road at the start of our 4-0 win in 2001-2 season.

[fred milne]

Or, Ronnie Whelan on Bryan Robson every b*****d time he faced him?

I always thought Whelan was more sly than McMahon when it came to putting in those kind of challenges.

[Elisha_Scott]

There was also the tackle on Dacourt at Elland Road at the start of our 4-0 win in 2001-2 season.

 

Dacourt was/is terrified of Gerrard. The next time they faced each other after that, they clashed early on, about 5 minutes later Dacourt limped off. As he passed Gerrard he just shook his head and said ' I am off before you actually kill me!'

Edited July 24, 2007 by Elisha_Scott

[MarkD]

Not nice - but Jimmy Case and Geoff Nulty?

 

Also, Souness in his debut for Rangers? Can't remember against who.

[JohnnyH]

FACT

 

McMahon got plenty of stick from Reds for letting Vinnie Jones put him out of the Cup Final like that. I remember one of the fanzines back then having some kind of 'hardman' McMahon cartoon that ended up with a wimper 'Sure, here you are Vinnie. You take the ball.'

 

But what annoys me about it is that it made f*** all difference on the game. We just had one of those days. Beardsley scores a perfectly good goal and is pulled back for a free on himself?? Barnes hits the post when it's easier to score. Aldridge has a clear clear penalty denied a few minutes before the one that was given.

 

Jones just ran around the pitch that day looking like a dog chasing it's tail. We could have been playing that match up until now and it would still be 1-0 to Wimbledon, and it had f***-all to do with Englishman/Welshman/Irishman (delete as appropriate) idiot.

[_00_deathscar]

Dacourt was/is terrified of Gerrard. The next time they faced each other after that, they clashed early on, about 5 minutes later Dacourt limped off. As he passed Gerrard he just shook his head and said ' I am off before you actually kill me!'

 

I miss those tackles from your mate

 

Hints of it were there when we played against Chelsea in the semis this season.

[Ostrich Man]

Your point?

what? the might of the 2001 crystal palace team "reduced" by a gerrard tackle on their world famous winger.

 

 

after that they didnt stand a chance did they

[Buzz]

What was the famous one from Souness when after he had taken the man, he stood over him, grabbed a fist full of shirt and pinned him to the floor, shouting at him through greeted teeth. Even the ref looked scared when he finally ran over to them!.

[fred milne]

What was the famous one from Souness when after he had taken the man, he stood over him, grabbed a fist full of shirt and pinned him to the floor, shouting at him through greeted teeth. Even the ref looked scared when he finally ran over to them!.

That sounds a bit like the clash between Souness and Case when Souness was at Boro. Case ended up on the floor with Souness standing over him threatening a punch.