If Alves went in with the aim of deliberately trying to hurt the other guy, you'd be right.
No. I never said anything about intent. I said it was reckless, dangerous, should be avoided if possible. My point basically revolves around the premise that players are supposed to sometimes limit their efforts for the sake of safety of others.
If he has went in to win the ball, it's frankly a non-issue from his perspective.
Are you serious? So you don't even have to win the challenge, you just have to have the intention of touching the ball, and it makes whatever happens to the other guy okay?
Seriously?
A player can't think "I can't go into this tackle because I might injure the other guy", that's stupid.
It isn't stupid. It's common sense. Safety translates to health which translates to players' careers. That should come first, methinks. Who gives a shit about a tackle here and there if not going for it means not risking someone's leg?
And you're looking at this the wrong way, btw. You're taking into account many challenges that happen in every game, which is definitely not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the challenges that happen maybe once per game (if that), the ones that are potentially career-damaging. Those happen so rarely we wouldn't even notice the difference in play, but it would make for a better sport with more fit players in it.
Football simply wouldn't work
That makes no sense, since football is not all about fouling, and again I have to stress that I'm talking about the roughest and most reckless of challenges, not everyday normal tackles that are used tactically.
and it's not like Alves lunged 2 footed in midair, it was a sliding kick with one foot.
Just because it didn't look like attempted murder doesn't make it innocent. You're only looking at Alves and what he's done, without looking at the bigger picture which determines whether the challenge was necessary and whether it had the potential of injuring Moral. The position of Alves' body isn't the only thing that counts.
Alves is an aggressive tackler, and sometimes it doesn't work, but how can he predict where the other guy's foot is going to land?
He can't predict, but he can be careful.
I'm kind of amazed at these comments. I know what the reactions would be like if someone went into our player like that. I've never seen someone say:
"Oh well, he didn't really want to put his studs into Messi's knee, it just sort of happened. Messi is fast so the guy couldn't possibly predict his movement. Sometimes it happens."
It's a rough tackle, sure, but you can't punish someone for going wholeheartedly for the ball and WINNING it, how could it even happen?
Going for the ball wholeheartedly and winning it isn't the same thing as going for the ball wholeheartedly and winning it while almost breaking someone's ankle. Like I said, it isn't punishable according to the rules, but it should be. It's why we have a human referee instead of lasers and chips. He's there, he can think for himself (relatively speaking when la Liga is concerned) and should be able to/allowed to judge these situations and hand out punishments if tackles were very dangerous. Also, if Moral's ankle had gone, judging by your statements it would have been the same thing as if he had escaped in one piece, since Alves did nothing wrong rules-wise and that's all that matters.
In fact, if the other guy had the same amount of determination to get to the ball, I'd bet everything I own that he wouldn't have gotten injured.
I disagree. If anything, determination is more likely to produce an injury if the other guy is also very determined. That usually means both of them go 100% for the ball which can end badly for one or both. Higher determination usually makes for harder tackles and more contact. I guess in this case you're saying that Moral would have gotten to the ball first if he went full in, but we can't know that, though it may be true.
Sorry for the long post.
