Ah, football's ugly things. 'Taking one for the team' challenges that you know will result in a red card but simply must be done if the scoreline is to be protected. Shielding the ball by the corner flag while twenty pairs of opposition studs rake down your shins. Having to mop Luis Suarez's spittle from your shirt after a sordid ninety minutes marking him. All the stuff the star centre forwards don't have to do. This cliche intends to pay tribute to those stalwarts who mop up football's mess, the long-suffering likes of Darren Fletcher, Nigel Winterburn and James Milner, not headline-grabbing pretty boys by any means but vital cogs in a winning machine that have far more skill than they're credited with. That this cliche undermines these players to the point where you'd think they were cavemen means it must be put to rest. Like Lawro's centre parting, it belongs in the 90s.
