SEEING RED: WHY CITY’S BOSS WAS FEELING THE BLUES
IT took eight matches before Cardiff City and Neil Warnock had their first major controversy of the Premier League season, but talk about going in with two feet when it did happen — if you’ll pardon the pun.
Joe Ralls’s red card controversy at Tottenham has split the Bluebirds’ fan base. Many felt he had to go, others are adamant referee Mike Dean’s decision was harsh.
Warnock felt his side were punished because they’re ‘little old Cardiff’ and that Dean was influenced too much by his assistants.
Throw in the involvement of England captain Harry Kane, who Warnock furiously accused of helping get Ralls sent off with his own follow-up actions, and it was a right old Wembley cocktail.
But was the correct decision arrived at as the gallant Bluebirds fell to a 1-0 defeat? This is the lowdown of what happened and why...
THE CHALLENGE
It’s the 58th minute when Cardiff lose possession tight by the left touchline in Spurs’ half. Lucas Moura collects the ball and knocks it past Ralls, then races inside him.
Ralls has a two-yard start, but Moura is lightning quick and it’s no contest. He’s away. Other Cardiff defenders are back, but left-back Joe Bennett is out of position ahead of play.
Ralls sizes up the situation in an instant, looks up at Moura, sticks out a left leg and scythes him down. The ball is a few yards further forward and Ralls makes no attempt whatsoever to play it.
THE KANE HULLABALOO
The Spurs players are furious and Kane rushes over straightaway to lead the protests. He puts two hands on Ralls’s shoulders and then around his chest — no idea why. Kieran Tripper also races across to say his two pennies’ worth to Ralls.
Cardiff captain Sean Morrison arrives at the scene, protects Ralls and ushers Trippier away.
By this stage Eric Dier, a third England World Cup player, is protesting to Dean. The Spurs centre-backs Davison Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld have also arrived on the scene to make their feelings known.
Warnock was infuriated by the actions of the Tottenham players, led by Kane, saying afterwards that you’re not meant to surround the referee these days.
He called Kane a name, while sarcastically saying ‘Well done, Harry.’ Afterwards Warnock said Kane should not have acted like that, hinting that as England captain he had to be setting a better example.
Warnock loves Kane as a player, but he also goaded him a little, throwing in the line ‘Just because he was having a poor game...’
And he was. Kane was desperate to score, given that Cardiff are the only Premier League side he has never netted against, but Morrison was superb. He and Sol Bamba handled the Kane threat well throughout the 90 minutes.
DID KANE AND HIS SPURS TEAMMATES INFLUENCE THE REF?
Once the fuss had subsided, Mike Dean brandished a straight red.
Harry Arter leads Cardiff ’s protests. He told Wales Online afterwards that Dean had initially been reaching for a yellow card.
It could have been, of course, that Dean was simply trying to find the red card and they were stuck together in his pocket.
What Kane and his team-mates did was unsavoury. To be fair to Kane, it’s also a little out of character.
But it’s far more likely, if he did change his mind, that Dean was influenced by the linesman on that side of the field.
Let’s be frank: it was a horrible challenge. Reckless and dangerous.
Warnock is right, though, the Spurs players should not have got involved in the manner that they did.
THE LAW
Dean’s official report to the FAW will determine exactly what Ralls was sent off for, but there are two areas of Law 12 he could have fallen foul of and which constitute a red card.
The first is: “A tackle or challenge that endangers an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as foul play.
“Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind, with excessive force or endangers an opponent is guilty of foul play.”
The other comes under violent conduct and the law reads: “When a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball...”