THE ENGLISH DISEASE AND HOW TO CURE IT.

Sampdoria against Cagliari was no classic. The two sides were tired after midweek matches and it showed. The game ended 1-1 and was notable only for the number of youngsters fielded by the visitors.

There was a sending off too but Nene's tangle with a Samp defender late on would have hardly warranted a booking in the Premier League.

The day before this working stiff had attended another unremarkable game in which Tottenham beat Portsmouth 2-0.

The game at White Hart Lane was marginally quicker but the intensity of both games was about the same (Spurs and Samp are competing for places in the Champions League; Cagliari and Portsmouth were playing for little but pride) but there was one noticeable difference.

At the Stadio Luigi Ferraris both sets of defenders did their utmost to stay on their feet. They jockeyed the man in possession rather than dived in and, as every football coach knows, if you go to ground you are out of the game.

In the rough and tumble of the Premier League the tackles go flying in. It is a feature that has helped it become the most prominent league in the world.

Brutal tackling has long been a part of our football culture. The sort of challenge where the centre half takes off from yards away and clatters man and ball. The crowd holler their approval and the referee waves play on.

Occasionally the tackle is mistimed and the victim is seriously injured. Most fans and former players feel it is a price worth paying. It is, after all, a contact sport.

The most recent example was at the Britannia stadium where Ryan Shawcross broke Aaron Ramsey's leg with just such a challenge.

Television, radio and print wheeled out the usual suspects who all parroted each other.

There was no malice in the tackle; no player ever set out to hurt a fellow professional; and tackling is a part of the game.

Not one agreed with the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that Shawcross should be banned for more than three matches.

Not one suggested that Shawcross is a thug who cannot tackle properly.

And all of them who said no pro ever intentionally hurt another are liars.

Wenger was disgusted with the reaction but what did he expect from a group who, collectively, have played thousands of football matches but can hardly muster an 'A' level between them?

English football has come a long way since Wimbledon terrorised the First Division in the late eighties and early nineties but the only players who defend on their feet are internationals and the only sides who do so are those that regularly play in Europe.

So here is the question: Can you take the brutality out of the English game without destroying what made it so popular?

Yes is the answer.

First of all managers like Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce and Mark Hughes (in his Blackburn days) have to take responsibility for sending out their teams in a heightened state of aggression. Players like Shawcross are only carrying out orders to hit' em hard and hit 'em early.

Suspend them or fine them but do something that leaves them in no doubt that their teams can play hard and fair but cannot intimidate and maim.

Increase the punishment for players who make these tackles and hurt people - up to and including a ten match ban. Each case should be treated on its merit.

And instruct referees to send off any player who jumps into a tackle - regardless of whether or not he gets the ball.

(What about the sliding tackle? Executed properly it is not a jump but a slide. It is legitimate and should remain so.)

It is highly unlikely the Football Association views these tackles as a problem and even if it did it would be niave to hope they would do anything about it.

After all, this is the same FA that still refuses to do anything (nearly 18 months on) about Chris Morgan’s disgraceful, disgusting and criminal assault with his elbow on Iain Hume which put the Barnsley forward into a high dependency unit with a fractured skull.