Swings and roundabouts. He could have sent Lovren off for S7 for getting involved after the Barkley challenge, but equally could have sent Barkley off for delaying the restart. Both would have been soft in my opinion and he did the right thing in the context of the game. Like it or not, and I know there are those that don't agree, at that level you are managing an event, not just a game of football, and also have a responsibility to the paying public. If top level referees applied the letter of the law to the strictest level they simply wouldn't be top level referees for very long.
Of course this doesn't apply to the Barkley challenge, that should clearly be a red card regardless of what game it is in. I can see why Mike Dean has missed it, as real time it just looked like a standard yellow card, but when they then showed the angle from behind the benches it looked like a shocker. I think Dean has followed the ball and not used the trailing eye, but you would have liked to have thought that one of his colleagues could have bailed him out.
Of course this doesn't apply to the Barkley challenge, that should clearly be a red card regardless of what game it is in. I can see why Mike Dean has missed it, as real time it just looked like a standard yellow card, but when they then showed the angle from behind the benches it looked like a shocker. I think Dean has followed the ball and not used the trailing eye, but you would have liked to have thought that one of his colleagues could have bailed him out.
