Two good games in two days ruined by this absurd straight red and penalty rule. Ballack had it spot on when he said he hates this rule. If you're going to do it though, why is Sczescsczsczscny's a red but no Boateng's? If anything Ozil was more likely to score than Robben, who had done a Suarez and just booted it miles away from goal in an attempt to be fouled. Is it just cos one's a keeper? There seems to be a trend lately where keepers can't touch strikers. Any contact is a pen and straight red. It's almost assumed that if the keeper fouls someone it must have been a clear goalscoring opportunity, even if the ball is already on its way out for a goal kick and the striker was nowhere near it. Football desperately needs an injection of common sense.
With the keepers sending off, Redknapp argued it was a clear goal scoring opportunity because Robben's got really fast feet, which seems to imply the ref needs to take into account each individual footballers ability.
I actually think it should be a red card. A foul is committed to stop a certain goal. The team that was fouled then get a penalty, which as we've seen does notlead to a certain goal. So if the penalty is not converted then, without a sending off, what benefit do the team who were denied the goal actually get? Surely the sending off is compensation if a penalty is not scored. If there is no sending off teams will always commit the fouls denying the goalscoring chance, thinking there's a 30% chance the penalty wont be scored so it's worth the foul.
