5 minutes in, I don't care what you've done - BOOKING and a SEVERE WARNING at the most. That's it now, game spoilt. (N) (N) (N)
Can i ask you this again ....if it happens the other way around and their player doesnt get sent off?
Disagree People talk about wanting consistency from refs. Well, to me, consistency applies throughout the game - if it's a red card offence then it shouldn't matter when it's committed during the game....1st minute, last minute or somewhere in between. Otherwise are you giving players licence to just haul someone down on the edge of the area in the first 5 minutes? In the same way that a yellow card offence when a player has already been booked should see them shown a 2nd yellow rather than the "oh, if he hadn't already have been booked then he would have got booked for that" that you hear.
RE: Can i ask you this again 5 minutes in. Game spoilt. People pay GOOD money to watch a game of football, for one man to spoil this and probably affect the final result all in the first 4 MINUTES is laughable. Ridiculous.
Fair enough... I'm not arguing. All I'm asking for is a bit of common sense. Was it a sinister foul? Was it malicious? Was the offended player hurt in any way? No...he got up and scored. I agree with what you are saying, but the game is now potentially over. We've reverted to ONE attacker, away from home, and are already 1-0 down. Joke.
Oh it's the Andy Gray school of thought "People want to see 11 v 11" Well, they want to see the game played fairly, if a player commits an offence that means they should be sent off then that's what should happen.
RE: Fair enough... Not having seen the foul then I can't comment on that. I may see TV pictures and think it was a bad decision - but that would equally apply at another point during the game. Player being hurt or not doesn't matter in the case of a professional foul where the judgement is preventing a clear goalscoring opportunity. A player may feel it's worth a risk late in the game but why do it in the first 5 minutes?! If it was a professional foul and a straight red then the only person to blame is Nyatanga for committing it.
I agree once again... However, the laws aren't and never have been set in stone. After 4 minutes of a football match, a player gets sent off for an innocuous foul and from then on, what was always going to be a difficult game turns into a nigh on impossible game. Fair do's, if the foul was a VICIOUS tackle with potential consequences then ok. Send him off, but for something done in nothing more than competitive vein, I find it just idiotic. Some common sense please.
