Hard but Fair: We need to see stricter punishments for reckless tackling.

Kevin Nolan destroys Anichebe's leg in Feb 2009. Anichebe still hasn't fully recovered.

It was slightly ironic, I felt, to see Newcastle writing to the FA to encourage them to appropriately punish Nigel De Jong for his tackle that broke Hatem Ben Arfa’s leg, sidelining the midfielder for at least six months. I have every sympathy for Ben Arfa, he was a player with massive promise, as he showed by scoring a thunderbolt against Everton a few weeks ago (curse him…), but my sympathy for Newcastle is tempered by the memory of a tackle from Kevin Nolan on Victor Anichebe in February 2009.

Nolan went right over the top of the ball with both feet, studs raised, and – here I struggle for a suitably voracious adjective – smashed into Anichebe’s ankle, leg and knee all at once. Anichebe returned to action a full 11 months later, but only managed eight appearances in the second half of last season, as he was constantly afflicted by niggly injuries that are the result of having his leg all but destroyed by Nolan. Nolan received a red card for his offence, and thus missed a game or two through suspension, but a year and a half later, Anichebe is still struggling to get onto the pitch.