By Ollie Irish
For a so-called friendly, this was a needlessly excessive tackle by De Jong, who afterwards shrugged it off, saying: “Such offences are part of football. I went for the ball and got the opponent at the end.”
Yes you did, and there was absolutely no need to get the opponent in this case. I like De Jong but this is a black mark for him.
Tough break for Holden, who will be out for up to two months with a fractured right fibula, and also for his club Bolton Wanderers, who could really use the young American in the Prem run-in.