"Your boys aren’t coming off the pitch with halos on their heads."
That was the rather trite and perhaps somewhat insensitive retort by Chris Coleman to an Irish reporter on the night that Neil 'not-that-type-of-player' Taylor broke Seamus Coleman's leg with a challenge that was incredibly reckless to say the least.
No one had really suggested the contrary to the Welsh manager's summation. It was a full-blooded game with a number of meaty challenges. But that isn't really a defence or an excuse for the severe injury that the Everton fullback is now left with.
In fact some are suggesting that Taylor's lunge on Coleman wasn't even the worst of the night. Many are pointing to an earlier clatter involving Sunderland's John O'Shea and Wales star man Gareth Bale in the Irish penalty area.
O'Shea felt the full force of Bale's studs on his leg as he cleared the ball away from danger - and luckily for him, his foot wasn't planted to the ground otherwise it could have been every bit as severe as Coleman's cruel fate.
https://twitter.com/DietmarHamann/status/845400186579030017
https://twitter.com/JacquiOatley/status/845393824625152002
https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/845394221414658049
https://twitter.com/GaillimhJoe/status/845414295945068546
https://twitter.com/rosscowils88/status/845532718591098880
As for any level of remorse, Chris Coleman has confirmed that Bale is unhappy about being booked for the challenge, and wants the yellow card to be retrospectively rescinded:
"I thought the ball was there, it was a cross and he had to go for it. If it was a bad challenge, there’s no sense of that in my dressing room; he wants to appeal the card that he got."
