Jamie Carragher eloquently tore down the 'not that kind of player' trope in his Mail column today. Most footballers are that kind of player. And if we've learned anything from this season's Merseyside derbies, it's that Ross Barkley is definitely that kind of player. Barkley is again in the eye of a social media storm this afternoon after nearly putting his boot through Dejan Lovren's shin. Many on social media couldn't let the incident pass without pointing out the irony of Barkley's expressing his 'devastation' Seamus Coleman's injury last week.
A week ago Ross Barkley is sympathising with Seamus Coleman. This week he tries to break Lovren's leg...
— Paul Howard (@AkaPaulHoward) April 1, 2017
This day week, Barkley took to his consistently sepia-toned Instagram feed to pay tribute to the Everton right back.
Today he could have broke Lovren's leg. I suppose it's possible for Barkley to experience sympathy for his stricken teammate and feel inspired to bring pain upon his opponents on derby day. Barkley could - okay, should - have been sent off for a 'tackle' on Jordan Henderson when the teams met at Goodison Park in December, and he was lucky to only see yellow today. It seems the catastrophic injury to Coleman has had zero effect on how Barkley tackles. For all the think pieces written in the wake of the Coleman injury, it seems football will not change.
Ronald Koeman said after the match that these tackles are merely 'a part of football'. After Neil Taylor, it seems certain that leg breaks will remain 'a part of football', or at least as long as referees choose to only caution players for these kind of tackles.
