The sooner the red card penalty rule goes, the better. Though we’d have won anyway.
The sooner the red card penalty rule goes, the better. Though we’d have won anyway.:
WOLVES 0 ARSENAL 3
WE highly likely would have won this game anyway, but the early red card for Wolves on top of a penalty for us near enough guaranteed the win.
I’ve long argued that such a punishment is absurdly excessive and the recent news that FIFA are planning to rescind the rule is welcome. That they are going to keep it for offences outside the area makes no sense to me because it fails to recognise that the award of a free-kick or penalty is completely different to that of a red card.
By this I mean that a free-kick or penalty is positional compensation whereas the whole point of a red card should be to punish deliberately unacceptable behaviour on the pitch.
Keeping the red card for a foul outside the area does not provide sufficient positional compensation (FIFA are themselves admitting as much by giving an additional sanction other than a simple free-kick) and nor does it provide appropriate punishment as players will still be sent-off for what are either accidental fouls or at the very least honest attempts to win the ball.
The solution, is I believe, simple: allow referees to award penalties for fouls committed outside the area. Yes, this requires discretion, but referees have to use discretion the whole time.
Apologies for that little rant: it is just one of those things that has irritated me for a while and seeing as it reared its head in an Arsenal game tonight, it seemed an apt time to mention it.
It is also true that there is not a huge deal else to say about tonight’s game. We were very, very comfortable and even when Wolves threatened you never doubted we’d win. The other two goals were nicely taken (from what I could see on my poor stream). What I liked about Theo was the purposefulness of his touches before he took the shot, something we don’t always see from him. One man who didn’t enjoy the best of times was Aaron Ramsey, who with Jack Wilshere coming back and possible new signings in the summer, will do well to be a first choice starter come August.
And so our apparently inextricable march towards third continues. We play twice, at home, before Spurs play a game meaning we could open up an 11 point gap. It’s been a weird old year.
WOLVES 0 ARSENAL 3
WE highly likely would have won this game anyway, but the early red card for Wolves on top of a penalty for us near enough guaranteed the win.
I’ve long argued that such a punishment is absurdly excessive and the recent news that FIFA are planning to rescind the rule is welcome. That they are going to keep it for offences outside the area makes no sense to me because it fails to recognise that the award of a free-kick or penalty is completely different to that of a red card.
By this I mean that a free-kick or penalty is positional compensation whereas the whole point of a red card should be to punish deliberately unacceptable behaviour on the pitch.
Keeping the red card for a foul outside the area does not provide sufficient positional compensation (FIFA are themselves admitting as much by giving an additional sanction other than a simple free-kick) and nor does it provide appropriate punishment as players will still be sent-off for what are either accidental fouls or at the very least honest attempts to win the ball.
The solution, is I believe, simple: allow referees to award penalties for fouls committed outside the area. Yes, this requires discretion, but referees have to use discretion the whole time.
Apologies for that little rant: it is just one of those things that has irritated me for a while and seeing as it reared its head in an Arsenal game tonight, it seemed an apt time to mention it.
It is also true that there is not a huge deal else to say about tonight’s game. We were very, very comfortable and even when Wolves threatened you never doubted we’d win. The other two goals were nicely taken (from what I could see on my poor stream). What I liked about Theo was the purposefulness of his touches before he took the shot, something we don’t always see from him. One man who didn’t enjoy the best of times was Aaron Ramsey, who with Jack Wilshere coming back and possible new signings in the summer, will do well to be a first choice starter come August.
And so our apparently inextricable march towards third continues. We play twice, at home, before Spurs play a game meaning we could open up an 11 point gap. It’s been a weird old year.
