Despite an inherent scepticism of the slick, politically-savvy Frenchman (make that an inherent scepticism towards any major figure associated with FIFA or UEFA) we here at The Lovely Reds are inclined to agree with his attitude towards the ‘last man’ rule.
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The issue has
been raised following two incidents in last week’s Champions league between
Manchester City vs Barcelona and Arsenal vs Bayern Munich.
In both games the
home sides had a player sent off after they were deemed to be ‘the last man’
preventing a 'clear goalscoring opportunity’. The ambiguity of this terminology
has caused many to speculate as to what exactly constitutes a ‘clear
goalscoring opportunity’ and whether the punishment befits the crime.
In the Arsenal match
Szczesny made contact with Robben and by the letter of the law a penalty was
correctly awarded. Given that there was
contact on the player inside the penalty area this is the only option available
to the referee to compensate the attacking team for a foul. However given that
Robben’s touch was heavy and leading him well wide of the goal his ‘goalscoring
oportunity’ was a miniscule one, if he could even catch up with the ball at
all.
In fact you could make a case that Boateng's foul on Ozil prevented a better goalscoring opportunity. Ozil still had control of the ball, was facing the goal and was less than 8 yards away. By contrast Robben had lost control of the ball with a heavy touch, if he had caught up with the ball he would have been at a seriously acute angle, whilst the Arsenal defence who were just behind the Bayern winger would have had time to line the goalmouth.
Therefore the
spot kick presents a far better chance at goal than the one created by the
player himself. The logic therefore suggests that winning the penalty in a
position where a player’s control of the ball is not absolute is a better tactical
decision for the attacking player.
Similarly, not
only is the attacking player rewarded by having a far better opportunity at
goal than the one they themselves had created, but the ‘last man’ (in this case
Szczesny) is also sent off, reducing his team to 10 men for the remainder of
the match. What is more, as Platini points out, that same player who is sent
off also faces a ban of two or three matches.
This triple
jeopardy seems disproportionately strict considering other offences such as a
two-footed lunge, an elbow, or physically remonstrating with a referee (Rahim
Sterling) can often go unpunished.
As Platini
suggests, and we are inclined to agree, an innocuous foul such as the one
committed by Szczesny whereby the offending player makes a genuine attempt to win
the ball without malice should result in a penalty and a yellow card. Therefore
the attacking team has an equally, if not more so, advantageous attempt at goal
whilst the other team is not punished for the rest of the match.
As was evident in
both of last week’s ties the sendings off proved to be a pivotal moment in the
match. Arsenal were arguably the beter side in the thirty or so minutes leading
up to the incident.
This is not the first time this season Arsenal have fallen foul of the 'last man' clause. Who can forget Arteta's premature dismissal from the field following a dubious foul on our former Moroccon starlet. That was even less of a 'clear goalscoring opportunity' than the Robben incident.
Like Demichelis' sending off against Barcelona the interpretation of whether a chance was a 'clear goalscoring opportunity' or not can result in a serious disadvantage considering the attacking player still has a lot to do.
Given that FIFA are notoriously slow at affecting change to their dust laden rulebook, we are not expecting changes anytime soon, however with enough pressure from the footballing community perhaps we could see a greater leniency from referees. The current response to award a penalty and send a player off clearly killed both matches when a penalty and a booking would have lead to a more open tie in both instances.
For your daily fix of Arsenal and football news look out for tomorrow's blog which will be up on thelovelyreds.blogspot.co.uk from 8am
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