Everton captain Phil Neville has accused foreign players of bringing a dangerous brand of tackling to English football.Neville was on the receiving end of a Mikel John Obi lunge during the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final which earned the Chelsea player a red card in the 55th minute.

Chelsea's 10 men eventually won the first leg tie 2-1 but Neville said: "I think he went for the ball. It was probably with his studs showing, but foreigners tend to tackle like that.

"I don't think it was with any malice, but you cannot do that. That is the type of tackle we want out of our game."

It is the second time in less than a month that Mikel has been involved in red card incidents at Stamford Bridge.

Against Liverpool in the quarter-final, he was the victim of a two-footed tackle from Peter Crouch.

The Liverpool and England striker felt the Nigerian had over-reacted though in a bid to get him sent-off.

However, Chelsea boss Avram Grant and his players felt referee Peter Walton could have dished out red cards to some of Everton's players during their hard-fought victory.

Grant said: "If that was a red card (Mikel), Everton players on yellow cards made worse fouls and did not get second yellows."

Neville and Lee Carsley could have seen red but Chelsea goalkeeper Hilario insisted Mikel had nothing to apologise for.

He said: "He did not have to say anything to us. He didn't do anything wrong. He challenged to get the ball and did not go to hurt the player, just to play the ball.

"The referees are focusing more on this kind of challenge and we have to be aware of that."

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