ORANGE CARD?
Should this tackle have been punished with an
There will be those who say Charlie Adam’s foul on Wayne rooney was an obvious red card. Then there are others who judge it a yellow.
And so, like most arguments with two sides, there ought to be an option for compromise, certainly when the stakes are this high. Could anybody seriously complain had referee Martin Atkinson shown an orange card?
It is a hypothetical scenario, of course. No official has such a colour in their possession. But there are enough instances where a traffic- light system might justifiably be applied to warrant a discussion about its merits.
The difference in severity of punishment between a straight red card and a yellow is too dramatic. An orange would represent a mixture. Not a halfmeasure, but a happy medium.
Obviously, it would be accompanied by a spell in the sin bin, thus punishing the guilty player and his team on a scale proportionate to the crime.
Adam’s foul came on the halfhour mark, so left Stoke a man light for two thirds of the encounter and the suspension to follow will remove the Scot from Paul Lambert’s thinking for crucial games against Arsenal, Tottenham and West ham.
While that is the price of protecting players from dangerous tackles, there was no injury to rooney and the Everton forward offered a conciliatory message to his opponent.
Adam’s studs were showing and made contact, albeit not with significant force, and Atkinson seemed to go for the pocket containing his caution card before switching sides as rooney clutched his shin on the floor.
This observer felt it an obvious red, but would understand a referee awarding orange were that a possibility.
Adam said afterwards he had ‘let the squad down’ by lunging into rooney as he attempted to retrieve a loose ball.
‘I thought he was going to pull a yellow card out,’ Adam said. ‘The conditions weren’t great and obviously Wayne’s got there before me. I went over to Wayne just to see if he thought it was a bad tackle. he said, “No”. But that’s just the way it is.
‘The referee makes the decision. I’ve been in to see him and he still thinks he’s happy with his decision. I’m gutted because it’s a difficult time for everyone.’
The red certainly altered the dynamic of the contest. Everton took control and Cenk Tosun’s double strike trumped Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s equaliser to leave Stoke three points from safety in 19th.
Tosun’s goals mean his record stands at four in three games to alter perceptions of him after a slow start to life in England following a £27million move from Besiktas in January.
Allardyce praised his Turkish striker’s efforts to improve his fitness during a training camp in Dubai and said: ‘We’ve seen his quality finishing in the box now, which is obviously brilliant for us.’