Tackle On Richarlison: ‘Everything That’s Wrong With English Football’

English fans don't appreciate 'the beautiful game.'

Tackle On Richarlison: ‘Everything That’s Wrong With English Football’

Image Credit: Getty Images

Tottenham number 9 Richarlison got scythed down over the weekend while showboating against Nottingham Forest. Many thought he got what he deserved. Others say English football fans (and players) don’t understand the joy in football, and need to learn to appreciate it.


With Tottenham 2-0 up late in Sunday evening’s game against Nottingham Forest (in Nottingham), Richarlison began to juggle the ball on the left wing. This enraged the home crowd.

“I wouldn’t want my players to do that, what Richarlison did,” the Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper said of the incident. “If that is accepted at Spurs that is nothing to do with me, but it wouldn’t be accepted here.”

Pundit Jamie Carragher ripped into Richarlison too, calling his behaviour disrespectful. Hundreds of social media users shared their rage (and vindication) too, with the overriding sentiment being that he got what he deserved when he was fouled after the juggling incident. OddsBible, for their part, called it “the ultimate disrespect.”

“Everything that’s wrong with English football.” Source: Twitter

There is another way to look at it though; English fans need to get a bit of Brazilian culture into them (and realise that there can be more to football than a dour, efficient game). Of course, we’re not saying there wasn’t an element of winding the other team up (or showing off) behind Richarlison’s antics, but perhaps we should learn to embrace the sh*thousery a little more.

One football fan wrote: “Everything that’s wrong with English football,” adding, “it’s not ‘disrespectful’ to perform a skill.” Another opined: “English football lacks… style so any sort of joy or ‘skill’ is wrong hence players like Saint-Maximin don’t get rated.”

Another few Twitter users spoke of Richarlison’s growing reputation as a cult favourite. Trevor Lloyd, said: “Richarlison is definitely one of those players you hate when he doesn’t play for you. But you absolutely adore him when he does.”

Another said: “Everton fans couldn’t of been more right, you can’t help but love everything about Richarlison when he’s one of you.”

“Guy is a club legend wherever he shows up.”

Twitter user @howardskend

Other Twitter users even accused pundit Carragher of being more upset over this than Luiz Suarez’s verbal abuse of Manchester United’s Patrice Evra (a controversial incident from way back).

In the end though, the point many people kept coming back to, is the question of why English fans get so incensed by this behaviour. As one fan put it: “If you liked Ronaldinho then you shouldn’t criticize this. Stop making the players be robots and boring. This is fun. Joga bonito.”

Love him or hate him, Richarlison is certainly making a splash. Stay tuned for Tottenham and Nottingham Forest’s next clash on the 8th of November. It’s sure to be spicy…

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