[lfc-news] Carragher braves cruel stamping ground - Guardian

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The Guardian, 30 Oct 2004
Carragher braves cruel stamping ground
A year after a reckless tackle left him battered and broken, the Anfield
defender returns to the scene of the crime in a better position than ever
By Michael Walker

One year and 47 days after Jamie Carragher had his leg broken in a gruesome
challenge by Blackburn Rovers' Lucas Neill, the Liverpool defender today
returns to Ewood Park. Though admitting it could be a "strange" experience,
he expects to have no apprehension when the 5.15 whistle blows.

Neill is still with Blackburn and should play, and Carragher is not
anticipating a bouquet from the Australian - whose alleged apology last
September, the victim continues to feel, lacked the force of his red-card
lunge.

"Obviously because [Neill] had been sent off he was in and around the
changing rooms," Carragher recalled of the scene inside Ewood. "He came in
and, well, he didn't really apologise. He said he was sorry but that he
'went for the ball, it was just unfortunate'. I saw the TV replays the next
day and that wasn't right. Everything he said he did, he didn't - that's
being honest."

To those who have watched Carragher on the pitch these past eight and a bit
seasons, honesty seems like a trait. The sheer malevolence involved in
Neill's recklessness makes one grimace at the memory. To Carragher the
break may have been "clean" but he was still out of football for over four
months. Yet he has not forgotten that Milan Baros had broken his ankle
earlier in the same game at Blackburn. It was to have direct consequences
for Carragher.

"It was a clean break, a good break, if you can get such a thing," he said.
"I wasn't aware of it until the next morning. I slept on it that night; I
wasn't quite sure what I'd done. It was painful but I'd visions of being
back in a couple of weeks. The problem was our doctor had already gone to
the hospital with Milan, so he couldn't look at me when I'd done my leg.
The Blackburn doctor looked at me, but then as soon as our doctor looked at
me on the Sunday morning, within 10, 20 seconds, he said, 'You better go to
the hospital.' It was confirmed then."

It has been a week for challenges and, sitting in Liverpool's Melwood
training ground, Carragher tackled them without pause. "But you see a lot
of bad tackles all the time. Look at the one [Ruud] van Nistelrooy has just
done on Ashley Cole. They are the type of tackles that could finish a
career. You shouldn't get a three-match ban for that, you should get a
five- or six-match ban.

"Ashley Cole has been very lucky with the Van Nistelrooy tackle. I was
unfortunate, I broke my leg, but I was fortunate to come back. Some people
wouldn't. Those are the type of tackles that should be stamped out."

Stamp out stamps . . . speaking in his waterlogged Liverpool accent,
Carragher has that Scouse funny bone of legend. But at 26 and with Michael
Owen gone and Steven Gerrard out of the side through injury, he realises
that his Bootle birthplace brings authority at a club where the manager,
Rafael Benítez, is Spanish and where four new signings are also from Spain.
Brought back to central defence by Benítez with impressive results, he is
in a physical and emotional position to lead. It brings out the serious in
Carragher.

"I don't feel it's a burden; I enjoy it really," he said of being
Liverpudlian in a cosmopolitan line-up. "Last season everyone looked to
Stevie; he was Liverpool basically, especially with being a local lad and
the position he played, central midfield. With him out of the team I am
probably the local lad and with me playing through the centre as well there
is a bit more responsibility. People maybe look to you to shout and show
what is needed to play for this club.

"I played there when I first was in the team under Gérard [Houllier]. Then
he bought Sami [Hyypia] and Stéphane [Henchoz] so I had to find a new
position or I wouldn't be playing. They were a great partnership and if it
has come to an end then they'll be remembered for a long time as a
partnership. The manager has put me in and it's gone quite well."

Quite well, by Carragher's definition, is staying as close to Arsenal as
possible. Win their game in hand and Liverpool will be six points off the
champions with an Anfield meeting at the end of November. As he said, last
season's disappointment at Liverpool stemmed more from the margin of
Arsenal's supremacy than the fact of it.

"By the time October came you knew it wasn't there, you're fighting for
Champions League spots. For our club that's not enough. While we were
fourth, it was 30 points behind. If you're fourth and 10 points behind then
it's a big difference. Come Christmas time, January, February, you want to
be in touching distance. But Arsenal and Chelsea are playing out of their
skins.

"We've got to make sure we get into the Champions League again. At the
moment it's Arsenal and Chelsea with Man United a little behind. We want to
try and get up there with United and maybe overtake them this season. Then
try and break that top two. We've just got to keep in touch."

An excuse for not doing so would, of course, be a manager new to club and
country. Liverpool, however, do not have transition seasons.

"There are changes," Carragher said of the new Benítez regime. "Training is
different. We do a lot more tactical stuff; we work more towards the game a
lot earlier in the week."

The impression is that Blackburn away is a fixture that has been on
Carragher's mind longer than seven days. "It's just over 12 months," he
said. "Obviously it will be strange going back to Ewood Park. But it's not
just about me, it's about us. I'm sure it'll be all right."


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