Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has come out in defence of Neil Taylor.
It’s hardly surprising that Bruce is backing one of his own players, but there are a lot of issues with his comments about the fall-out of the Welsh defender breaking Seamus Coleman’s leg.
Taylor is expected to face Norwich in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday, and because of this, Bruce was forced to address the backlash aimed at the left-back in the pre-match press conference.
Bruce does not agree with the possibility of Taylor being handed an extended ban by FIFA over the horror challenge. Republic of Ireland fans may not agree with his assessment of an increased ban being ‘a bit harsh,’ but he spared himself some criticism with the admission that he doesn’t know much about the rules for that sort of thing at international level.
“I’m not sure of the International rules because I’m not involved, but it seems a bit harsh to me.”
Tough https://t.co/AOQfTFtuKW
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 29, 2017
Then he wheeled out the hackneyed ‘not that type of player’ excuse that really, never rang true. The man who “certainly” wasn’t Neil Taylor that broke Seamus Coleman’s leg looked the absolute image and played football exactly like the Welshman. That Taylor imposter could make a decent living impersonating the Villa man… well, less so now.
“He’s never going to forget about it but he’s got to try and get on with it. He’s naturally saddened because it’s certainly not Neil Taylor. He’s recovered from a serious injury himself (a broken ankle in 2012) so he knows what it is.”
Bruce also tried to claim that leg-breakers, or at least potential leg-breakers of this magnitude, are a standard weekly occurrence in the sport.
“He was reckless, he understands that. He hesitated and was in two minds whether he should go for the challenge but he’s caught him. It’s part and parcel, we see it every week and players get injured, although none of us want to see it.”
There are heavy tackles and there are horror tackles. There’s no denying which category Taylor’s one fell under.
