Chelsea

In view of considerable controversy over recent weeks, Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien has decided the time is right for a personal statement on his approach to the physical side of the game. Here are the highlights.

“I have never gone out with the intention of hurting anyone in a tackle. Nothing I have done has been deliberate. I am not a dirty player. I will always compete fairly but never with malice.”

Words like ‘never’, ‘nothing’, ‘anyone’ and ‘always’ ensure that the language here is anything but tentative, so how does Essien account for the lowlights – two frightening over the top tackles on Bolton’s Tal Ben Haim and Liverpool’s Dietmar Hamann, either of which might have ended a career, and an elbow in the face of Arsenal’s Lauren, which was forceful enough to raise the prospect of some substantial dental work?

The answer is that he doesn’t. His forceful statement contains no detailed explanation, merely denial and self-justification.

So when it comes to tackling, how can such a good player miss by so much?

Is it his timing? Or his eyesight even?

Perhaps in the circumstances it is fortunate that he was never tempted to train as an airline pilot. Or a surgeon.