It was a condensed weekend of Premier League action this weekend with a number of Premier League teams participating in the FA Cup. Indeed, the focus of the column this week will be Fulham’s complete meltdown against Manchester United as it was the most controversial moment of the weekend.
The incident: Pape Sarr attempts to clear the ball, however, Ainsley Maitland-Niles is able to get there first and the Tottenham man catches him instead. A penalty is awarded.
Sarr is unfortunate here, but it is a simple decision. If a player attempts to play the ball and catches an opponent instead, it is a foul. Sarr had eyes for only the ball but Maitland-Niles sneaks in and takes the ball. Initially, I believed there was a chance the penalty would be overturned because for me the Southampton man’s reaction to the contact seemed excessive. However, as we have often seen once there is clear contact the chances of an overturn are very low. It may prove a key moment in both teams’ seasons as every point matters for the Saints and Spurs’ collapse prompted an epic meltdown from Antonio Conte in the post-game press conference. It was not the worst meltdown of the weekend.
The incident: Willian stops Jadon Sancho’s goal-bound effort with his hand, and Marco Silva and Aleksandar Mitrovic are sent off for their protests.
There was no reason for this decision to be so controversial but somehow it resulted in two extra red cards and Fulham bowing out of the FA cup in the most shameful manner.
First and foremost, the ball strikes Willian’s hand which was clearly away from his body. In the video, it even seems like he moves his hand toward the ball which was clearly goal-bound.
Per Law 12:
A player, substitute or substituted player who commits any of the following offences is sent off:
- denying the opposing team, a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a handball offence (except a goalkeeper within their penalty area)
So the referee had no choice but to send Willian off. Now to Mitrovic and his coach, they could have escaped punishment. This is more subjective but I believe the right decisions were made here as well.
Back to our favourite law 12 sending-off offences include but are not limited to:
- deliberately leaving the technical area to:
- show dissent towards, or remonstrate with, a match official.
- act in a provocative or inflammatory manner
- using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or action(s)
- physical or aggressive behaviour (including spitting or biting) towards an opposing player, substitute, team official, match official, spectator or any other person (e.g. ball boy/girl, security or competition official etc.)
Marco Silva approaching the referee at the monitor will fall under point 1, whilst Mitrovic’s antics were clearly aggressive behaviour towards a match official. So the referee was well within his rights to send them both off.
We do not have the benefit of audio but I doubt that both men were speaking to the referee in a polite manner and likely fell foul of point 2 in addition so by all accounts they were rightfully sent off.
Mitrovic should face very stern sanctions and should be treated as an example. England is currently in a refereeing shortage partially caused by attacks on lower-level match officials. The aggression Mitrovic showed towards the official should be dealt with swiftly and harshly to set the precedent that his behaviour is unacceptable.
Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton has suggested the Serb serve a 10-match ban for his conduct and I am inclined to agree. The absolute minimum should be 5 games and the maximum could be up to 15 for me to show the league means business. Regardless, the hammer has to be brought down.