Fair play to him. But by the letter of the law, i.e serious foul play = excessive force, out of control, endangering the player, the referee got it right.
I'm seriously struggling to understand the furore over the red card, definitely no intent from Nani but regardless he's caught a player with his studs fully showing 4 feet above the ground. I don't think necessarily it was a red, but the sense of injustice surrounding it is baffling to me, was borderline in my book and calls like that go against you all the time. Worth nothing that Real also had a goal very harshly disallowed.
The "dangerous play" rule is bullshit. If Nani had won the ball, it wouldn't have been any less of a dangerous challenge, but it would have been deemed a fair challenge. If you play a sport, there's a risk of getting hurt and you take that risk. Alternatively we could at least be consistent with our insane definition of "dangerous" and send players off for attempting volleys and overhead kicks as well. And we should probably impose a speed limit on players because we know injuries can occur when players collide at speed. Oh, and crash helmets, they definitely all need to be wearing crash helmets. We should probably think about elbow pads and knee pads as well to prevent any nasty grazes.
Slow motion replays are the problem I think. They make it look like the player used a lot less force. These type of challenges should always be shown in real time
Hull appear to be making a go of it, as well; they beat Birmingham last weekend, but their defense -- which was nigh on impermeable for quite some time -- has now shipped ten goals in three games. Really, most of the contenders are going in the wrong direction; Leicester now has five points in six, and Boro is somehow within a win of the playoff spots despite taking just seven in eleven. Heh, think it might be time for a 'who comes up?' thread? The Championship is getting interesting...
I could easily see why the ref got his red card out. It's harsh because there was no malice involved, but that's not in the equation. If it was the PL, I think it may have been a yellow, but by the laws of the game it was a red. As they say, get over it. For those who believe in that old hugely flawed, but generally accepted adage, luck tends to even itself over a season, well perhaps this was it. I don't believe in that old adage because it isn't proven, and until it is, it's rubbish as far as I'm concerned, coined by people who have tended to benefit from it, and accepted by sheep who can't be bothered to question it.
