Match Reaction vs Swansea (home).

[Letters]

LETTERS AND NQ IN AGREEING ABOUT SOMETHING SHOCK EXCLUSIVE.

[Power n Glory]

Just watched MOTD hoping for a big discussion on it, but Lineker just said 'a yellow would have sufficed' and nothing else was mentioned. I've always said that tackles like that should be red, but we have suffered many like that and they were only yellow. It just seems wrong that we were on the end of a red card for it, especially when I saw more dangerous ones yesterday that warranted only a yellow, or no card given at all. If Xhaka's was a red card offence, fine, but can we at least see some consistency?

Refs need to be held accountable for their decisions and their should actually be some form of presentation to explain their decisions or interpretation of the rules. It's quite scandalous that MOTD just brushed this off with one sentence. Even if they thought it was worthy of a yellow, how can they just brush it off with no further discussion? It would actually help if pundits took some time to talk about this sort of thing. No idea why it's the fans scrolling through the FA rulebook to interpret the rules and not the pundits. The punditry standards have always been low in this country when it comes to football.

[Niall_Quinn]

Refs need to be held accountable for their decisions and their should actually be some form of presentation to explain their decisions or interpretation of the rules. It's quite scandalous that MOTD just brushed this off with one sentence. Even if they thought it was worthy of a yellow, how can they just brush it off with no further discussion? It would actually help if pundits took some time to talk about this sort of thing. No idea why it's the fans scrolling through the FA rulebook to interpret the rules and not the pundits. The punditry standards have always been low in this country when it comes to football.

No Wayne Rooneys were involved in the incident so no need for a 10 minute segment.

[Letters]

Refs need to be held accountable for their decisions and their should actually be some form of presentation to explain their decisions or interpretation of the rules. It's quite scandalous that MOTD just brushed this off with one sentence. Even if they thought it was worthy of a yellow, how can they just brush it off with no further discussion? It would actually help if pundits took some time to talk about this sort of thing. No idea why it's the fans scrolling through the FA rulebook to interpret the rules and not the pundits. The punditry standards have always been low in this country when it comes to football.

I think this is one thing which grinds my gears most in football. Refs are never, ever accountable. The whole system is set up with the presumption that they get everything right - hence things like you can't appeal a decision if the referee saw it, because if the ref saw it, clearly they got it right. Obviously they're going to make it mistakes and those will highlighted more now we have 5 camera angles and super slow motion, but the number of decisions they get wrong is scandalous and it's never, ever scrutinized.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Refs need to be held accountable for their decisions and their should actually be some form of presentation to explain their decisions or interpretation of the rules. It's quite scandalous that MOTD just brushed this off with one sentence. Even if they thought it was worthy of a yellow, how can they just brush it off with no further discussion? It would actually help if pundits took some time to talk about this sort of thing. No idea why it's the fans scrolling through the FA rulebook to interpret the rules and not the pundits. The punditry standards have always been low in this country when it comes to football.

Hmm depends, whilst i agree there should be a larger format to scrutinise referee decisions and for them to have to justify their decisions. I would argue that the red card was less contentious because it didn't ultimately change the course of the game and MOTD operate under a time frame of what to fit into an hour-hour and a half.

Had the red card been followed by Swansea equalising or the even more contentious dismissal of Aaron Creswell for West Ham against Palace had been followed by a Palace equaliser, i can imagine both incidents would have been put under the microscope.

[Power n Glory]

I think this is one thing which grinds my gears most in football. Refs are never, ever accountable. The whole system is set up with the presumption that they get everything right - hence things like you can't appeal a decision if the referee saw it, because if the ref saw it, clearly they got it right. Obviously they're going to make it mistakes and those will highlighted more now we have 5 camera angles and super slow motion, but the number of decisions they get wrong is scandalous and it's never, ever scrutinized.

It’s pretty poor. With so much TV coverage, they’d be doing themselves a favour trying to explain some of the decisions. Heck, it would also help if the pundits weighed in on some of the rule changes and did their own research. It shouldn’t be an easy retirement job for ex players. When I think of F1, NBA or NFL, the guys they have as pundits know what they’re talking about along with the new regulations. They’re armed to the teeth with stats and history on players and records. Our pundits haven’t got the slightest clue about what’s going on half the time. It’s backpage tabloid talk. Neville is the only one I rate to shake up the standard.

[Penguin]

The rules in Europe have always been harsher but I can't see how it will put us at a disadvantage.

In Europe a tactical foul is a yellow. It would be a disadvantage because there's a major difference in how you play with or without that rule. If it's applied across the board it's easier than trying to completely change your gameplan in one tournament. Especially in this kind of situation where you're making split second decisions on the pitch.

Where are you looking? There's this bit

Q10: Is every DOGSO offence in the penalty now only a caution (YC)?
NO – the Law has only changed for those DOGSO offences in the penalty area where the offender makes an attempt to play the ball or challenge an opponent for the ball. The sending-off (RC) remains for: handball holding, pulling and pushing (as these offences are not an attempt to play the ball) making no attempt to play the ball e.g. a deliberate trip an offence when there was no chance/possibility of the ball being played
But this is in a section about Denial of a Goal Scoring Opportunity, which this clearly wasn't as it was in their half.

It's still a red if the ref considers it a goal scoring opportunity outside of the box. We're looking at a 4 on 2 situation if Xhaka doesn't make that foul. A yellow card or free kick doesn't restore the opportunity so it's a red card. Let's be honest, if Xhaka doesn't commit that foul, they could have scored with that counter.

It's debatable. If a counter attack with a numerical advantage is a goal scoring opportunity then it should always be a goal scoring opportunity. If the refs apply that consistently I have no issue with Xhaka's red. I can see a lot of problems happening in that respect though because there's too much of a grey area and not enough case studies for officials to learn from.

Plus Xhaka jumps off the to make that challenge. Isn't that deemed reckless and out of control? There is a reason why we haven't challenged this one. It's just dumb and blatant. Wenger just needs to have a word with him because we don't usually have players that make such obvious fouls.

Not really because he's always in control. It's not like he's going in two footed with his studs showing. He knows what he's doing - he aims for Barrows boot and clips him with his toe. There's nothing dangerous or malicious about it, it's a tactical foul to stop them from countering. Barrow gets up and starts skipping around the pitch as soon as Xhaka got shown a red.

If anything he's unfortunate. Any other season he would take a yellow and be applauded for making an intelligent foul. Considering the fact that nobody seemed to know about the rule change - not Xhaka, not Wenger, none of the pundits and nobody on this forum (until someone mentioned it on Goals on Sunday), he'll just have to take it on the chin and learn from it. Bit annoying that we'll be used as a case study but there you go. I would have thought that there would be someone at the club going through this tedious stuff with a fine tooth comb before the start of the season but at least it happened in a win.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

I'd actually be pretty happy if those sorts of cynical challenges were red cards but they're very rarely given and that in itself makes me think it was a soft one.

This is what it basically boils down to.

Sure it'd actually be good for football for these sort of cynical challenges to be wiped out for good as they disrupt the game and turn into the sort of anti-football shite that Pulis excels at but the arbitrary application of it with Xhaka being the only victim so far of it (thanks a lot of John Moss) is incredibly galling.