Sir Alex Ferguson was right – Ashley Cole should have been sent off.
Old Trafford – The foul on Javier Hernandez was one of many talking points in an entertaining, yet error-strewn match between Manchester United and Chelsea.
Dimitar Berbatov missed a great chance in the dying moments to seal a 4-1 victory for United. His shot was blocked by Ashley Cole, who shouldn’t, however, have been on the pitch.
As it happened, the matter of a fourth goal was inconsequential, but what impact will Ashley Cole have on Chelsea’s next three games, when he should be serving a suspension ?
Referee Phil Dowd got it horribly wrong yesterday. Cole’s tackle on Chicharito was late, high, and a potential leg-breaker, and the little Mexican is likely to be out for a fortnight as a result.
For United, the consolation is that Danny Welbeck may return in time to replace him next weekend. Fans were, however, left perplexed as to why the referee deemed it acceptable to book Cole, but not give a penalty as the foul was in the penalty area. Having already given United one penalty (which Wayne Rooney missed doing a great impression of John Terry), you would be forgiven for thinking the ref bottled giving a second.
It was later claimed that as the ball was out of play when the foul was committed, there was no directive to give a penalty kick.
But does this mean that each time a striker taps the ball wide, or blazes over from inside the box, it’s fine for a defender to scythe them down seconds later, knowing a penalty will not be given ? Dangerous tackles should be punished and not excused.
Setting this argument aside for a moment, surely if the ball was out of play by time Cole made his lunge, his tackle was so recklessly late that it would automatically warrant a straight red in any case ? Dowd and his assistant will look back at the video of this incident and surely realise that they got it wrong, but as Cole was booked, he escapes retrospective punishment.
Aside from the Cole controversy, Chelsea looked like a decent team Sunday – despite the 3-1 loss – and can take away many positives – the biggest being that their star left-back has escaped serving a three match ban. Fans, however, will remain perplexed by Fernando Torres. Is he back to near his best, or simply the new Ronnie Rosenthal ?
In the meantime, Manchester United’s footballing machine keeps on rolling (and just imagine where they’d be if they’d signed Wesley Sneijder during the tranfer window!)
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