Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Reading and Wolverhampton Wanderers rank among the worst disciplinary records in the Championship.
Rob Green is sent off during QPR vs Nottingham Forest
The Championship is a robust league where tackles fly in, the game moves at a quick tempo and the levels of physicality are high. Players new to the division often struggle with the speed, physicality and aggression of England’s second tier.
Being firm but fair is a key facet of being a successful Championship team. Nottingham Forest fans won’t be surprised to see their team emerge as statistically the dirtiest, with the worst disciplinary record in the league, which can largely be attributed to the 4 red cards they have picked up this season.
No other team has received more than 2 dismissals, and only Aston Villa have received more yellow cards than Philippe Montanier’s team. Using the barometer of 1 point for a yellow card and 3 points for a red, as is commonly used; Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Reading have the worst disciplinary records in the division.
Leandro Bacuna is Aston Villa’s worst offender in terms of discipline
Aston Villa have received far more yellow cards (40) than any other team, but Steve Bruce’s men are yet to receive a red card, meaning Forest are some way ahead of them in terms of the overall disciplinary chart.
Leandro Bacuna has been the worst offender at Villa Park, picking up 5 yellow cards this season, followed by Mile Jedinak and Tommy Elphick with 4 each. Forwards Ross McCormack and Jordan Ayew have also chipped in with their fair share of cautions, having received 6 yellows between them.
At Nottingham Forest, Hildeberto Pereira is the most obvious culprit. The Benfica loanee has already been sent off twice, as well as receiving 3 yellow cards. Damien Perquis and Thomas Lam are the other two Forest players to have received their marching orders this season, whilst Henri Lansbury and Matt Mills have picked up a whopping 11 yellow cards between them this season.
Nottingham Forest’s Hildeberto Pereira has been sent off twice this season
It’s a combination of red and yellow cards which see Reading rank among the trio of teams with the poorest discipline in the Championship. The Royals have picked up 30 yellow cards and 2 red cards with just over a quarter of the season gone, with Joey van der Berg their worst offender, having been shown one red card and three yellows already this term.
There are four teams tied as the next worst behind Forest, Villa and Reading, namely Wigan, Barnsley, Wolves and Huddersfield. Wigan have had the joint second most yellows in the division (34), but are yet to have a player sent off.
Barnsley, Wolves and Huddersfield have all had 31 yellows and 1 red card. One of the trends across the division is that young players are often among the worst offenders, and that is certainly true at Wolves, where promising full-back Dominic Iorfa has 1 red and 2 yellows to his name.
Wolverhampton Wanderers full-back Dominic Iorfa
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