Has anyone checked on old Jose this morning? I hope he is ok. He did not seem all there in the yesterday’s post game interview.
Saying that, his interview was glorious, as was the hysterical anger of Spurs fans on Twitter late into the late.
Everything was blamed on the referee. It was all his fault. He got every decision wrong.
But that is just not true is it. Lets go through them.
The Penalty
One of my pet hates is when a striker has a shot, and then a defender clatters into him late, not winning the ball. It is often waved away for the strange reason that “the striker had a shot”.
But if it happened anywhere else on the pitch, it would be a freekick.
Picture it now, a midfielder passes the ball. After the ball has been passed an opponent clatters into him. It will be a free kick due to the late challenge.
Jamie Redknapp in the Sky Sports studio summed it up well:
I will say that it’s reckless from Sanchez…they deemed it on being purely reckless and out of control. Sanchez catches him knee high. He misses the ball and goes clattering into Lacazette.
Of course, I have taken out the 3 times Redknapp also said it “wasn’t a penalty” even though what he went on to describe was a reckless, out of control, knee high challege that did not get the ball and clattered into a player.
For me this is the key still:
In the first, Lacazette is striking the ball. Sanchez’s feet are off the ground as he lunges towards Lacazette. It highlights just how far he lunged from. It was a desperate, out of control lunge.
The second still is key for 2 reasons.
Firstly is it highlights how far away the ball is when Sanchez makes contact. It is a late challenge. No argument.
Secondly, Lacazette has not moved from where he was. He has remained static. Yet in that moment Sanchez has moved around a yard, into Lacazette, clattering into him.
So those who are saying “Lacazette initiated the contact” are confused. He did not move. It as Sanchez who lunged a yard into Lacazette.
Penalty all day long. For the reasons Jamie Redknapp gives.
Eric Lamela sending off
It was one of those that looked a lot worse in real time.
In real time my comment was “that could have been a straight red”.
The replay showed that a yellow was fair enough. And as it was his second yellow, it led to a red card.
Lamela only has himself to blame as he is one of this petulant players that likes to kick, flick and elbow players throughout a game. Much of it not seen by a referee.
Yesterday it caught up on him and after 3 or 4 little incidents, he was finally sent off.
Disallowed goal
Harry Kane was offside no matter what interpretation of the rule is in place.
Harry Kane challenge
The ref got this one wrong. Kane should have been booked, maybe even sent off for his challenge on Gabrial.
Was this not violent conduct?
Kane made no attempt to play the ball. He clattered into Gabriel after the ball had gone, forearm first.
It is not hard to find montage’s of Kane putting players health at risk, taking them out in the air whilst not going for the ball. These challenges would be fouls in rugby.
Likewise Kane’s assault on Gabriel would be a sin binning offence in rugby. You can not lead with the forearm. An Italian player was binned for exactly that in the game against Wales.
You get the feeling that if this was someone like Grant Xhaka, it would have been a straight red. But Harry Kane, like Alan Shearer before him, is allowed to risk serious injury to an opponent purely because he is England captain.
So Michael Oliver and his team, they got 3 of the 4 big decisions in the game right.
The only one they got wrong was Kane should have seen red.
Have a good Monday
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 