''He must have papier mache for brains'', SKY Sports reporter lamented as he witnessed Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole being sent from the field of play for the third time already this season during yesterday's goalless draw at Wigan.
It was after all the fifth time Cattermole has been shown a red card in a brief career.
And Sunderland fans feared the worst on Tuesday night at White Hart Lane when Cattermole whacked into Luka Modric and sparked an angry reaction from Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart (in picture).
This time, he escaped with a yellow card.
In truth, it was a difficult outcome for the young Englishman to accept as replays clearly indicated that he played and won back the ball. Even though his legs were together at the time and his momentum carried his body weight into Modric's shin, there was clearly no malicious intent in the tackle.
In the past, it is unlikely that a free-kick would even have been awarded for Tottenham in such a situation.
However, with players such as Birmingham's Martin Taylor and Arsenal's Eduardo Da Silva and Jack Wilshere suffering serious leg breaks in recent years from over-zealous tackles, it seems now that a witch-hunt and multimedia brawls ensues each tackle which is slightly mis-timed or elbow which slightly raised.
Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy foolishly aimed a cheap attack on several teams he accused of roughing up their opposition to compensate their own lack of footballing ability and other players, including Modric himself, and pundits have called for a crackdown on bad tackles.
But Mick McCarthy recently echoed my sentiments on this issue when he said in an interview, moaning the ''dramatic amateur bulls**t'' which has plagued the Premier League for the last few seasons.
At first, the dramatics were thought to stem from the influx of foreign players who were not acclimatised to the physicality of the English game and who would look to con officials into thinking that they were the eternal victims of outrageous brutality. Once British players saw that such antics actually seemed to work more often than not, they joined the bandwagon and started rolling around on the floor and remonstrating with officials when they felt aggrieved about any decision.
The fact that there are more than twenty cameras positioned around every ground at every match and that the Premier League and its participants seem to profit so thoroughly from the increased audience which it attracts via satellite television means that not only is each tackle more carefully scrutinised than ever before but also that there is much more riding on the outcome of refereeing decisions than ever before.
And when in doubt, officials have played safe and sent the player off, thus contributing to a series of circumstances in which some players are actually withdrawing from tackles in fear of the consequences.
While leg breaks are unfortunate incidents and can end careers, they are a common factor in all contact sports and even some non-contact sports such as basketball.
And while ''the times they are a-changing'', real fans still like to see commitment and grit from their players and everyone in the game should commend the intent of a player to win back a ball or retrieve an unfavourable situation and not demonise the subject when such intent is not married to precision. After all, nobody is perfect and not all footballers are thuggish criminals.
Rather than waste time and our breath on mis-timed takcles, wouldn't it be nice to rid the game of disrespect towards officials and foul and abusive language on the pitch in general and promote sportsmanship and goodwill gestures. After all, kids do as kids see.
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