Five Worst Tackles in Premier League history

Calling this a ‘tackle’ from Michael Brown on Ryan Giggs is generous. There was no effort to play the ball – instead, Brown simply jumped on Giggs’ leg with both feet.

Luckily for Giggs, he escaped injury, but this could have ended his career had Brown landed in the wrong place. It was a monumentally irresponsible move from an experienced professional who really should’ve known better.

Andre Marriner deemed this only enough for a yellow card – sadly, this will become a running trend in this list.

Ben Thatcher on Pedro Mendes

This wasn’t a tackle – this was common assault. Ben Thatcher was known for his roughhouse tactics on the football pitch, but this was a stomach-turning tackle even by his lowly standards.

Playing for Manchester City, he challenged Portsmouth’s Pedro Mendes as the ball was going out of play. He raised his forearm and smashed it straight into Mendes’ jaw, knocking him unconcious.

The former Portuguese international was rushed to hospital, suffered a seizure along the way and considered quitting the game altogether as a result of the physical and mental trauma received. Referee Dermot Gallager gave Thatcher a yellow card.

Roy Keane on Alf-Inge Haaland

You all know this one was going to show up. The feud between Roy Keane and Alf-Inge Haaland is well-documented at this point, but let’s rehash your memory nonetheless.

Keane had been stewing over a previous issue in which Haaland accused the former Republic of Ireland international of feigning an injury. A man of Keane’s temperament was never going to stand for such comments – upon their next meeting, he thrust his studs directly into Haaland’s knee.

Keane knew what he had done – he began to leave the field before he even received his inevitable red card. While the long-term damage caused to Haaland from this tackle has largely been exaggerated, as it was an injury to his other knee that ended his career, we certainly wouldn’t have wanted to have been on the end of it.

Martin Taylor on Eduardo

What could be worse than this? Martin Taylor’s ‘tackle’ on former Arsenal player Eduardo was more reminiscent of something from a low-budget Eli Roth film than a game of football.

There was little in the way of malicious intent from Taylor, even if his studs were far too high – Eduardo was simply too quick for him.

The Croatian international suffered a broken tibia – his foot was barely hanging on to the rest of his leg. He would go on to play for another ten years, but he was never truly the same again.

Dan Smith on Abou Diaby

This makes the list for one reason – it altered the trajectory of Abou Diaby’s career permanently. Once a promising young talent, he was never the same after this.

Sunderland’s Dan Smith lunged in with both feet directly at Diaby’s ankle, making no attempt to win the ball whatsoever. Shockingly, he only received a yellow card for this infraction.

While Diaby’s career never truly recovered from this, Smith’s career never even left the ground. He would make just three Premier League appearances for Sunderland, bouncing around Aberdeen, St. Johnstone and Gateshead before falling into non-league irrelevancy.