By Micah Richards Manchester City and England defender

I was shocked by what happened to Arsenal striker Eduardo on Saturday - it was a horrific leg break.

I was watching the game on TV but I was out of the room when it happened. I wanted to see it so much for myself that I stayed up to watch it again on Match of the Day.

Birmingham defender Martin Taylor has had a lot of stick about his challenge but it was just like any other tackle that I would make dozens of during a game. Eduardo just dinked it past him and then Taylor caught him.

Taylor went for the ball, got the man and it is heartbreaking for Eduardo. I feel for him and I hope he gets back as soon as possible

It was not nasty at all, so for Taylor to get death threats is a disgrace. It is nine years since he had a red card which shows you he is not a dirty player.

I have seen worse tackles in plenty of games with people diving in and I think everyone understands that now. At first with something like that you think the worst but when you see it you realise it was not that bad.

I have been there myself. When I was playing for Manchester City's academy, I went up for a header and won the ball but fell on the goalkeeper's leg, breaking it.

I could not look at it because it made me feel sick. It was a complete accident but that is how it happens sometimes.

When Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said after the game that he wanted Taylor banned for life it was clearly in the heat of the moment. He was just protecting his player like any manager would.

I can understand why he was frustrated though because Arsenal play the best football in the division and sometimes people are out to tackle them hard and foul them.

But that was not the case here. Taylor went for the ball, got the man and it is heartbreaking for Eduardo. I feel for him and I hope he gets back as soon as possible.

After my knee operation this week I will have to spend some time out myself. I know from past experience that it is frustrating and quite depressing. Nine months is a long time and it will be easy for Eduardo to feel sorry for himself.

It will affect Taylor too because crowds will get on his back now every time he makes a tackle, especially when Birmingham are away from home. He is not going to go in as hard as he would like because of that but he will get over that with time.

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Even I was cautious in our game against Everton on Monday. When you see things like that it makes you more aware of the damage a bad tackle can do, but maybe that is just the sort of player I am.

Of course, when you are marking somebody it is easy to get carried away with a little feud. Lots of strikers and defenders have arguments and you might remember I had a real battle with Fulham striker Clint Dempsey earlier this season.

Sometimes you do get carried away and want to go in a bit stronger on someone but you have to keep a steady head because you never know what might happen.

You saw what happens when players get frustrated on Monday when Martin Petrov was sent off at the end of our 2-0 defeat. You cannot raise your foot like that but I feel sorry for him because I saw it and he did not do a lot.

Of course people are going to ask how we played so well to beat Manchester United then followed it up by playing so badly against Everton.

It is annoying that we are so inconsistent and I can understand why City fans get so frustrated with us because we get their hopes so high sometimes, then bring them crashing back down to earth.

We need to cut that out if we want to play in Europe next season. We need to get our act together, there are no excuses.