Fabian Delph has admitted he has consciously worked on cutting out indiscipline from his tackling this season in a bid to prove himself at international level after accruing 20 yellow cards at Aston Villa in the last two full campaigns.
The midfielder, who is expected to gain his fifth cap against Italy on Tuesday, has forged a reputation as an aggressive tackler and was booked nine minutes into his England debut in Switzerland last September. That early setback did not perturb him, however, and represents his solitary caution of the season to date, with the only card he has accrued for Villa a red for a rash challenge on Sunderland’s Jordi Gómez in December.
At this stage of the past two seasons, Delph had been booked eight and 10 times respectively, reflecting a realisation that, if he was to excel at the higher level, the timing of his challenges had to be improved. “You’ve definitely got to be more careful in international football but, the way I play, I do like to tackle,” he said. “I’ve managed to curb it this season, believe it or not. I got the yellow against Switzerland and then the red against Sunderland but, other than that, I’ve been pretty clean, so to speak.
“It is something I’ve managed to curb a bit. It is hard to lunge into tackles in international football. You do get pulled up more and if you lunge in on a top-class international footballer they’re just going to skip around you or you’re going to get brought down. It’s something I’ve looked at. I tried to set a target at the start of the season and, so far, I’ve been able to meet that, so I’m quite proud of that.” He subsequently confirmed his target had been not to be booked at all this term, which, red card aside, remains on track.
The foul on Stephan Lichtsteiner at St Jakob-Park had appeared to leave Delph at risk for the remainder of the game, although his performance had been impressive thereafter, the Leeds academy graduate stamping authority on the occasion and playing a major part in an eye-catching 2-0 success. “It didn’t faze me,” he said of that early caution. “I tried to make a tackle again after that. It’s not something that’s ever fazed me.
“It was one of those things when I tried to impose myself on the game early on, mistimed it and after that it was just about trying to stay on my feet and get through the game, try to perform well, with good energy, keep the ball moving, and I managed to do that. It was a great learning experience for me and I came off that pitch feeling quite proud of myself – and proud of the boys because we were under pressure at the time. Switzerland were a decent outfit and we’d needed to get the win.”
That eagerness to make his mark in midfield has always been a feature of Delph’s game, with the Bradford-born player having been just as aggressive in his approach in training games with the then Leeds manager, Dennis Wise, as he was establishing himself in the reserves at Elland Road. “We used to have staff games, so it would be youth team against the senior staff – and they did get quite tasty,” he said. “I did tackle [Wise] and I remember him going through me, too. Gus Poyet was his assistant and he could kick a few people, too. Those were game situations and they tended to get quite heated but it was about us showing the staff what we had. Funnily enough, that same season he gave me my first-team debut.”
Delph described his decision to sign a new four-and-a-half-year contract at Villa Park in January as “a no-brainer”, with the 25-year-old confident of an exciting future under Tim Sherwood, if relegation can be staved off this term. “I have never been tempted to leave,” he added. “With the time I had off with my shoulder injury I managed to sit down with the club and managed to get the contract sorted. The new manager has had a great impact. When you bring someone new in, it seems to lift the tempo and the standard seems to go up. That has definitely happened but he has just been so positive with the boys, especially with me. He was a midfield player as well and I am sure, once we get over the line this season, next season we’ll push on and look to be a lot better than we have been this time.”
