How Alonso invites red cards by Ronan O'Connor

Is Xabi Alonso a diver? This seemed to be the intimation by Richard Keys on Sky Sports yesterday after the Frank Lampard had been sent off, admittedly unfairly, for his challenge on the Spaniard.

For Keys to suggest that Alonso somehow invites or attracts red cards is contemptible. Perhaps he was just continuing the sycophantic trend of conforming with the opinion of top, top pundit Jamie Redknapp, who was too busy defending his cousin’s honour to analyse the game.

The main thrust of Keys’ point was that 5 players had received red cards this season for fouls on Alonso. For the record, these are the incidents where opponents have been sent off for fouls on Xabi Alonso this season:

Saturday September 13, 2008, Namanja Vidic: In the game that was to see Rafa Get his first win over Liverpool’s bitter rivals, Vidic was sent off for two bookable offences. Having been booked earlier for a foul on Robbie Keane, his second misdemeanour was for an aerial challenge on Alonso when leading with an elbow and catching Alonso in the face. The red card was not disputed by Alex Ferguson after the game.

Saturday September 27, 2008, Tim Cahill: Cahill got a straight red card in the dying minutes of the derby with his team 2-0 down and completely outplayed. In the 80th minutes, Cahill performed a scissor kick to Alonso’s legs, with Mike Riley opting to give the Australian a straight red. This was a harsh decision which was appealed by Everton, but turned down, arguably vindicating Mike Riley’s decision on the day.

Sunday October 5, 2008, Pablo Zabaleta: In the 67th minute of a tense game, with his team 2-1 up, Zabaleta lunges in and catches Alonso with a nasty tackle. He protests his innocence, but replays are conclusive, it was a deserved red card. Liverpool use their extra man to good effect and the reds secure a 3-2 victory thanks to late goals from Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt. Of Zabaleta’s challenge, City manager Mark Hughes remarked at the time, ‘I've seen it in slow-motion and I can understand why the referee has gone for his red card’.

Saturday October 18, 2008, Antonio Valencia: In an eventful game, the highly rated Ecuadorian winger was sent off for two bookable offences. The first was for encroachment from a free kick, while the second yellow was for a late sliding tackle on Alonso. Replays were inconclusive as to whether Valencia had won the ball or not. Valencia’s red was contentious, and there was the usual outrage from Steve Bruce while Javier Maascherano admitted he was surprised to see Valencia was sent off.

Sunday February 1, 2009, Frank Lampard: With the game heating up, Alonso and Lampard both challenge for a bouncing ball in the middle of the park. Lampard gets to the ball first, but his studs are raised and his leg is off the ground. Alonso also goes for the ball, his leg in the air, with studs down. Alonso’s leg connects with Lampard’s and the Spaniard falls to the ground, clearly in pain. Referee Mike Riley judges that Lampard went in with studs showing and that it was dangerous play, sending the Chelsea midfielder for an early shower.

On reflection, it is clear that Keys has no point. Of the five red cards in the Premier League, three were straight reds, and none were linked to Alons’s reaction to a foul. All in all, there is no correlation between these red cards and the fact that Xabi Alonso was the victim. Surely, in a season where Alonso has arguably been Liverpool’s stand out performer, it is a case of opponents targeting their greatest threat rather than an honest player suddenly turning into some kind of footballing conman during the summer, as Keys would have us believe.

If this one sordid incident highlights one thing, it is the sheer ineptitude of footballing analysis offered by Richard Keys in particular and Sky Sports as a whole. One would imagine that after 15 years of doing his job Keys would have acquired some sort of nuanced understanding of the game. He has not. Instead he is happy to play the idiot to soothe the ego of whichever talking head is in the studio. Any attempt at interrogation or incisive analysis in football seems to have been completely discarded by the mainstream media, and the reputations of decent players like Alonso are suffering as a result.