I watched the City Wolves game live on tv last night. I personally did not think Boly should have got a card let alone a red. I know a lot of people disagree but........

When he made contact with the ball Bernardo was a good 12 inches away from both the ball and Boly.

Bernardo was late on the ball and consequently he was the one who made contact with Boly and not vice versa.

Boly had one foot (“studs showing”) in the air in order to clear the ball. His trailing leg and foot were in the ground.

To me not even a foul. But as I say people disagree (although interestingly not Andy Gray - rare he and I agree!) however let me make a few other points:

What a stupid idea that because your studs are showing you have made a reckless challenge. Say Tomkins makes a precise tackle on an attacker by coming in from the side and clears the ball from the strikers feet with his “studs showing”. “What a great tackle” say the pundits. No foul, no card nothing but praise. So the idea that someone who “shows their studs” is automatically reckless and commits a foul is nonsense. The attacker was not touched albeit perhaps he fell over Tomkins but the pundits say “the defender got to the ball first - no foul”.

Then there is the phrase “out of control”. Okay, so the striker takes a flying header and scores a goal. He has no contact with the ground whatsoever so he is “out of control”. Should that not mean the goal is disallowed?

And what if that “out of control” goal scoring striker lands clumsily on a bystanding defender; has he then committed a foul and should receive a red card?

Yellow and red cards should be given for dangerous injury threatening tackles (as well as time wasting, professional fouls etc).

So IMO Boly should not have been sent off.

Mind you City would probably have won but then again when Palace were 1-0 down Wolves fans would have said the same!

Always remembering walking from the Holmesdale to the Whitehorse end at half time!

Although the referee's word is (generally) final it's surprising how many referees seem to aspire to this high office.

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The Ferret
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I think it’s either no card or a red as essentially it comes down to was it reckless and endangering or not.

For me, it’s also no card. His feet were on the ground, looked in control and there was no scissor motion etc. Plus he won the ball. Good challenge in my eyes but I’m old school.

A very harsh desion in my eyes, Boly got first contact on the ball he won the ball. When you are committed to a 50-50 ball like that and win the ball you cannot not help the follow through. Bernardo on the other hand made a meal of the tackle rolling around on the ground like he had been shot in a pheasant shooting competition.

Vincent Kompany tackle on Salah on the other hand was discussing and deserved a straight red.

How Sterling won City that penalty that night came out of the Jacques Cousteau manual of deep sea diving, and they have the cheek to call Zaha a diver

Edited by manwitheagletattoo (16 Jan 2019 8.59am)

South London & Proud
Sometimes I really wonder if family are really worth it.
Because it doesn’t matter how time and affection you give
It’s never enough

Absolutely.

On a side note, I don't think VAR will ever work whilst there is this bizarre culture among referees of 'game management' in England rather than objectively enforcing the rules, and the decision is referred to a fellow referee, also looking at the incident driven by this subjective mantra.

Look at Battenburg's comments about "the battle of the bridge". Nothing short of match fixing.