Alan Hutton the Scottish Cafu Retires

[Summers]

Thuggery? Jesus christ. It was a full blooded high impact tackle. He didn't go in to injure, he dove in to win the ball. Was it a good nice tackle? No. But it wasn't thuggery.

[taylorsworkrate]

I'd hope that someone will have a word with him, letting him know he's been lucky on this occasion and not to do something similar that could easily get him sent off.

Preferrably I don't want him in the team.

[luke25]

I think not enough credit has been given to young Alan for the tackle, he clearly new that with Long being out for a while that Albion would need to recall Wood from Blues ;-)

[luke25]

I think not enough credit has been given to young Alan for the tackle, he clearly new that with Long being out for a while that Albion would need to recall Wood from Blues ;-)

[ktvillan]

If it had been thuggery he would have made sure he connected and snapped the whiney little fucker in two. It was aggressive and aimed to intimidate not damage the player. I hope he does the same to Downing when we play Liverpool.

He did connect and he did injure the player as a result, and it was only through fortune that he didn't snap the "whiney little fucker's" legs.  How do you know if it was aimed to intimidate or to damage?   Has Hutton told you his thoughts?  Diving in like that he must have known there was a good chance he'd catch Long and cause some damage.  You don't need to be a genius to predict that 12 stones of useless git hurtling through the air might have quite some impact on someone's lower limbs.   I see that as thuggish, others are entitled to their own opinion.  And how nice of you to wish something similar on another player.

[Chris Smith]

We do get all precious about this. It' a physical game, injuries are an occupational hazard so I'm not going to worry too much about a millionaire having to miss a few games.

I reiterate I hope Downing gets kicked from one end of Villa Park to the other.

[Dave]

And if the manager feels the same way, when we lose due to the three sendings off that this rather outdated policy has caused, will you be worrying any more then?

[SoccerHQ]

Yep, you get the feeling refs will be looking at Hutton's tackling more than ever now.

I reckon Carlos will start at RB at Sunderland anyway.

[LeeB]

I can't believe some of the shite poured out in this thread.

Alan Hutton hurt an Albion player. Who gives a fuck but them? Fuck me, it's still "tay fayre" when they've beat us.

[NeilH]

We do get all precious about this. It' a physical game, injuries are an occupational hazard so I'm not going to worry too much about a millionaire having to miss a few games.

I reiterate I hope Downing gets kicked from one end of Villa Park to the other.

He'll do a Hodge and mysteriously pick up a knock before the match. That gutless little dooshbag would not have the balls to confront a Villa Park crowd.

[Dave Clark Five]

I reiterate I hope Downing gets kicked from one end of Villa Park to the other.

Also at Anfield if necessary. The man is a traitor considering how we looked after him.

[Legion]

"He's not a dirty player."

Assistant boss Peter Grant has jumped to the defence of under-fire Alan Hutton, insisting: "He's not a dirty player."

Hutton has been criticised over the past few days for a tackle which injured West Brom forward Shane Long.

But Grant was quick to step in and paint a more positive picture of Villa's reliable right-back.

"I know what he's been painted as but he's not that type of player," said Grant. "That's been proven over the years.

"People haven't said in the past that Alan is aggressive, goes over the ball and is a dirty full-back. I don't think anybody's ever said that in his career.

"They've said that he's an attacking full-back who likes to get forward.

"I think sometimes his biggest problem is that he's desperate to hit the ground running. There's that impatience in his game.

"You can see him running along the line. He's trying to get up and down the pitch.

"We're telling him 'Alan, calm down - it will come'. He's trying to make everything perfect and in football everything's not perfect.

''You're going to make mistakes. It's how you respond, what's your reaction.

''You must try and make it better the next time and that's what Alan must do.

"Alan's disappointed with certain things he's done, but there's certain things he's done very well."

Hutton is a doubt for Saturday's trip to former loan club Sunderland after sustaining a cut near his eye which required seven stitches after an accidental clash with Charles N'Zogbia.

Carlos Cuellar and Chris Herd will be in contention for the right-back spot if Hutton misses out.

Grant is convinced the Scottish international will be a long-term success at Villa.

"He's not found his feet yet," admitted Grant. "There's more to come from him and we know he can be a top player here.

"You don't go to Tottenham for the price he did if you're not a top quality full-back.

"Yes, there are different reasons why it didn't work there, we understand that. Every manager's got their own opinion and we've no problem with that.

"But there's absolutely no doubt about his ability. I saw him play three internationals on the bounce against Ukraine, Italy and France and he wasn't just Premier League class he was world-class in those three games.

"We all know he's got those performances in him."

[Monty]

If it had been thuggery he would have made sure he connected and snapped the whiney little fucker in two. It was aggressive and aimed to intimidate not damage the player. I hope he does the same to Downing when we play Liverpool.

How is aiming to intimidate not thuggery? If some scummy bastard (not saying that Hutton is, for the record, just an analogy) comes up to you in the street trying to intimidate you, is he not a thug just because he doesn't hit you?

We do get all precious about this. It' a physical game, injuries are an occupational hazard so I'm not going to worry too much about a millionaire having to miss a few games.

Injuries are an occupational hazard, but when a player is aggressively reckless and out of control to the extent that he may cause a fellow professional an injury which could alter the course of his career (as we've seen in the past with broken legs), then that tackle is unacceptable.

[gsbrn68]

I think Hutton is getting a lot of undeserved stick on here
granted he is not a world beater but he hasnt played regular football for a year and i think his level will improve gradually
i watched L.Young on sunday and dont think Hutton will be a step down from him

[glasses]

Hmm, we'll see I suppose. It's nice to hear that sort of praise coming from PG, but from what I've seen so far I'm not impressed. He looks clumsy in possession and has a strange awkward run, and thats before we get into his positional sense. Hope he is just taking time to settle and the trying too hard thing perhaps has some credibility. Its not an easy position to play, full back.