Ok, my two pennies worth...
I have seen a lot of idiotic comments on this thread and I don't want to quote them as it will result in a completely pointless and pathetic argument.
Anyone who has played football at a decent level will know that Taylor's challenge was nowhere near as bad as it looked.
Hard... yes, late... yes.. but ONLY because Eduardo was too quick for him.
He never meant to go into his leg that hard, but to win the ball which is fine.
Another point is that Taylor's tackle was not as high as many think.
Pictures can always bend the truth and is why they were used so much for propaganda purposes as they do not tell the full story....
Do you HONESTLY think Taylor was on his knees laughing at Eduardo?! Get real and don't be silly!
It's about as pathetic as suggesting the player closest to the camera is clenching his fists and shouting
'Yes, he has been injured!!'
Look where his foot meets his leg?!! - it should never have been that high.
(I'm quoting you not because I think your post was 'idiotic' as I said above, but because it helps make my point better)
Now if you look at this picture, it looks as though the tackle is too high but where Taylor's foot meets his leg is NOT where Taylor's foot was supposed to meet the ball:
In reality, if you look at the next picture.. THIS is the height that Taylor was supposed to make contact with the ball:
Which is at ground level and perfectly legal.
But again, the ball was SUPPOSED to be there and not Eduardo's foot... Eduardo was too quick for him and is why he made contact with the leg sooner (and indeed accidentally higher) than he was supposed to make contact with the ball.
It was just unlucky all round.
Every single Arsenal fan that I know and speak to that has followed Arsenal and the game for many years agrees it was just unfortunate and that there are worse challenges made every week and that Taylor's was only made a highlight because of the unfortunate consequences of the tackle.
Had he been a split second earlier, Taylor would have got the ball and people would have said it was a great tackle and no one would have cared 5 seconds after.
Just look at Claude Makelele's tackle on Julien Faubert yesterday to see that Makelele intentionally went over the ball.
(Let it load and go to 8mins 40seconds)
http://www.dailymotion.com/search/w...g_west-ham-united-v-chelsea-fc_sport?from=rss
This tackle is worse that Eduardo's simply because you can clearly see the intent there and also it comes the week AFTER Eduardo's injury which shows that some people never learn.
But because Faubert was lucky he never broke his leg... Nobody is making a big deal out of it.
Also people are talking about English brute defenders etc etc... so on the other side of the coin, does it mean Taylor also gets unfairly treated because he is an 'English brute' and Makelele doesn't because he is an 'elegant French midfielder'?
It also doesn't matter if it was Eduardo or Gerrard... no one is being biased here, so to suggest otherwise is quite condescending.
For me after reading this whole thread, Makelele deserves more criticism than what Taylor does.
Taylor was unlucky that a genuine attempt for the ball resulted in such a bad injury for Eduardo, but Makelele attempted to injure his fellow countryman, even when his side were 3/4 goals up.
I am not picking on Makelele either because there are many tackles that are worse than Taylor's (Eboue's intentional studs on Evra for example), it is just the best example to use at the moment.
Jail sentence? Banned for 9 months?
Grow up.