Man Utd. v Midtjylland - The good, bad and ugly

[Tealeaf]

Watching the Europa League highlights on DVR and largely a day to forget for the man in the middle I'm afraid.

2 good points: The first penalty. Clear example of when an advantage is not an advantage. Could have played on but has the stones to give the penalty. Correct call but a ballsy one as the temptation to play on with a 2 man overlap is powerful. Oh dear Mata, oh dear.

Lingard dive - Excellent call.

The bad: The second penalty - caution was extremely harsh especially in view of the next point. How in the hell was Rashford allowed to stay on the field? 2 well taken goals but on both occasions celebrated in the crowd - mandatory cautions not given?

The ugly: The delay in actually sending Romer off. I first saw it and thought, he's been cautioned already. Not sure how long the delay was in real time before he realised and showed the red, but very very poor.

We all have bad days, but the big stage is one of the worst places to have it happen to you.

 

[Peter Grove]

2 well taken goals but on both occasions celebrated in the crowd - mandatory cautions not given?

To the best of my knowledge, celebrating with the crowd is not necessarily a cautionable offence, depending on the exact physical circumstances. The closest wording in the Laws says only that a player must be cautioned if he:

climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal being scored

 

[deusex]

How in the hell was Rashford allowed to stay on the field? 2 well taken goals but on both occasions celebrated in the crowd - mandatory cautions not given?

Not a mandatory caution

 

[Ryan Owens]

It's only mandatory if he's had to climb on a perimeter fence -- which he did not have to do. No caution necessary or, in this case I think, warranted.

 

[Tealeaf]

Fair enough -I'm mistaken. It's become so common place, particularly as the traditional perimeter fence has gone, and is now largely advertising hoardings.

My biggest concern with those celebrations is the increased risk of crushing for spectators, which is where the idea that it was mandatory came from.