Tomas Rosicky wasn't too disrespectful by showboating against Brighton... the Arsenal playmaker is just brimming with confidence

• e-mail

Phil Neville certainly caused some controversy with his comments on Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night by saying he would have gone in two-footed on Tomas Rosicky for showboating. I think it was a tongue-in-cheek comment more than anything, but perhaps ‘robust challenge’ would have been a better choice of words…

There’s no doubt, though, that if you are on the receiving end of some unnecessary trickery, it winds you up. The red mist can descend and you instantly think: ‘This player’s taking the p***.’

I found that more often than not things like this would happen near the touchline. Partly because of the type of flair players who play on the wing but largely due to the proximity of the crowd.

Tomas Rosicky looks one way but passes another during the build up to his spectacular goal

The Czech midfielder used the same move a number of times during Arsenal's 3-2 win against Brighton

Phil Neville made the comments on Match of the Day, but later claimed it was 'tongue in cheek'

Showboating and tricks are done to impress the fans and when you’re on the touchline, you are right next to them – players love playing to the crowd.

As soon as a trick comes off, you can sense the reaction straightaway. You get this ‘wahey’ from the terraces and it can feel as if everyone is laughing at you.

If players started doing step-overs in front of me, I tried to home in the ball. My thoughts would be: ‘Right, you’re taking the mickey here so now you’re going to feel the full force of a big challenge.’

It was a gamble because, if they nick it past you, you end up looking foolish but it was always a good feeling if you won the ball and were able to give your opponent a bit of a clump at the same time.

I would go in with one foot – using two feet always felt unnatural to me – but that didn’t mean you couldn’t be strong to make sure they stopped.

Rosicky celebrates his goal while Aaron Ramsey rushes over to congratulate him

Former Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale dived too late to keep out Rosicky's perfectly executed strike

It’s especially bad if the player is only doing tricks for themselves. When Cristiano Ronaldo was a young United player, he was ridiculed for his self-indulgent skills but now he uses that talent to win games.

Rosicky had a good game against Brighton but the feints were designed to dummy his opponent so he could release a pass – it was done with the team in mind. Perhaps he went a bit over the top but I don’t think it was too disrespectful. He was playing with great confidence in a game where everything was coming off for him. Whether he would have done that against City the previous week is another matter.

But every player can be tempted into showing off occasionally. When Arsenal won the league against Everton, even I had a go at a few step-overs. I thought if the crowd saw me pulling off a few tricks then they knew it must be a good day!

If you overstep the line, though, and over-indulge, you’ve only got yourself to blame if you’re on the end of a few strong challenges. 

Cristiano Ronaldo was criticised for trying too much during his early days at Manchester United