Im_Spartacus wrote:Foreverinbluedreams wrote:Since when is leading with your arm into a headed challenge deemed a red card offence? It's naughty and a yellow all day but if there's no swing of the elbow towards the player's head on what grounds should it be red?
If it was a red card offence we'd have games abandoned every week with the number of players sent off.
I think the issue is that if the referee deemed it worthy of a yellow card, then in all honesty he shit out of sending him off because contact with your elbow is either serious foul play (naughty as you put it), or violent conduct (if the arm is swung).
I honestly think Costa's reputation counted against him when the referee made that decision.
I honestly think this is where the game of football is losing it. The laws are collectively 'an ass'. Why does every foul have to be a yellow or red card, which is the way it is going. There was fnck all wrong with Costa yesterday. It was merely two guys going up to head the ball. Fern did not swing or even deliberately lead with his arm. He used his arm as leverage to gain height, got up above Costa who barely got off the ground and Costa hit off his arm. Big deal. It happens all the time and if you rolled around on the ground in Sunday league after an innocuous challenge like that you would be ridiculed.
In today's rules it is deemed as a foul, but without any intent I just don't see why it should be a yellow. It's a contact sport for Christ's sake, or at least it used to be and to be fair, yesterday's game was a proper game of football. You run the risk of spoiling the sport by taking the challenges out of it.
Similarly, I argued that Adrian (West Ham Keeper), being sent off was ridiculous. A yellow would have sufficed for undue care or something like that, but it was just a guy trying to take a ball down coming over his shoulder keeping his eye on the ball all the way. His foot rose no more than waist high and the opposition guy clatters into it.
Start dishing out yellows for pratts diving and rolling around like they're dead (Costa) to try and get the opponents punished. Then refs might be able to go back to just reffing an honest game.