Red card for Fabian Delph after a high tackle. Referee Taylor initially pulled out the yellow but changed to a red. What do you think? Graham Poll's take: Manchester City’s Fabian Delph was sent off by referee Anthony Taylor despite the referee initially taking out his yellow card following Delph’s reckless tackle on Wigan’s Max Power. The decision to dismiss the City player was not wrong but appeared to be influenced by a huge posse of Wigan players who surrounded the Manchester-based referee. Appearances can be deceptive and it is far more likely that one of Taylor’s team of match officials was the one who communicated that the foul challenge warranted a red rather than the yellow he initially took out. Whatever the reason for his change of heart it was poor practice. As for the decision itself, given the pace Delph went into the challenge and the fact that he had his studs raised well off the ground, I felt the red card was correct. Pep Guardiola has been asking for players to be protected - meaning dismissals for these dangerous tackles - but he probably didn’t want the first to be for one of his players.
My view when watching live was that he pulled out his yellow to write down the information. I know a lot of the English referees use their yellow card with the stick-ons on the back of the card for match facts. I could be way off on here, that's just how it looked to me. Regardless, Pep shouldn't have any complaint about this because that tackle was absolutely brutal.
It was SFP and kudos to the AR and/or 4th for making sure the CMI was correctly handled (assuming that was the case).
This is unlikely. I've never seen any other English referee pull out a yellow to write down information before giving a straight red.
I think that's what he tried to make it look like. He pulled out the yellow in an attempt to diffuse the situation, but it ended up biting him a bit.
I was 4O on a NPSL game where the center was being assessed by a national assessor. Lunging hard tackle right outside the 18 and he goes in with yellow out but holding it down, gets to player on ground with clear marks half way up us shin and torn sock, and he goes red. The assessor didn’t seem to mind when we talked it through afterwards. I don’t know if he passed or what his score was.
Sounds similar to what a national ref told us at a clinic. Don't be afraid to ask an injured player "where did he get you?" If he shows you cleat marks on his leg or a torn sock, use that information to make a decision...with obvious discretion of course.
This video shows that Taylor was writing down information on his yellow card before the game, and not at the coin toss. When he pulled out the yellow on the Delph incident, he again wrote something down, but it still doesn't seem like he intended to go red in the first place.
I personally think there’s very little chance he was going to send him off without input, but we don’t have enough information to be completely certain. One clue against the idea that he was sending him off is that I believe it’s standard (or common) practice in England for the referee to tell his crew what he’s about to do it he’s pulling a straight red so that they—particularly the 4th—are prepared. The discussion between the 4th and the Wigan coach don’t give the immediate impression that the 4th was saying “don’t worry, he’s got this.” Another big clue is that English referees tend to call players over before they show a card unless they want the card out to immediately curb dissent. By pulling the card immediately so everyone could see it, it obviously gives the impression that he was showing it. And if he was going to immediately show a card, it makes more sense to pull the color you wanted to show. Those two clues, along with the elapsed time, make me think this was a red given based on input. But it’s not enough to be certain. Watching a few clips of Taylor’s standard practice on previous SFP cards would be enough to get certainty. I believe he had a cup match a few weeks ago with two SFP reds and, though I could be mistaken, I think he showed both before recording and without pullin his yellow.
I’ve never seen it either. It usually follows the showing of the red card. Just thought he maybe showed poor form. As others have suggested, lost likely confirmation from his crew that he should be going red.
what about the foul on aguero in the first few minutes. it wasn't as bad as delph's red ,but no card shown to the wigan player, surprised me, particulary when he slid, and the cleat came up
I've seen a still photo that looks bad, but of course I can't give a great answer until I see it at speed. I was going to come ask about this one, too.
https://streamable.com/r4hw6 We'll see how long it stays up. I think the speed of the tackle is lowered just enough due to how long he was sliding on the ground. I'd lean reckless, but I could see the arguments for SFP due to the absurdly high contact on the leg. Edit: I changed my mind. It's SFP. WWVARD? (What would VAR do?) I have no idea.
I agree. He's got an opportunity to alter his tackle there and instead just follows through the opponents with his legs far enough off the ground to cleat the opponent in the thigh.
Looked at it again...sfp...I know he got the ball but he kept on sliding.. and as I tell my new refs..the further your leg is away from your body.. bad things are going to happen
VAR shouldn’t intervene here either way. Not giving (or giving) a red here isn’t a clear and obvious error. The problem is that some VARs would intervene and some CRs would seize the opportunity to adjust their call to what they deem as more preferable based on the replay. I totally see the argument for a red. The contact from the tackle is high, with the studs, and somewhat gratuitous. I’d have no problem with red. I’m inclined toward red. The one mitigating factor for me is that the fouled player saw it coming and didn’t take too much force. Did the tackle truly endanger the safety of the player? That’s a hard question to answer and that’s why I’d say there’s enough doubt to make yellow a defensible call, too.
I had foul and caution mainly because the speed by the time of contact was low enough that I wasnt at endangering. Definitely a foul and a caution, and an assholish play by the tackler as he could have easily brought his leg in instead of leaving it straight. It’s probably too much time in between to be relevant, but I always wonder if an early caution here might have squelched the aggression in the game so that Delph never goes in so crazily. We’ll never know but in a game that risks a lot of aggression, I’ve never regretted giving an early tactical or reckless caution.
1:56 and 2:21 here show pretty clearly that Taylor's standard practice on an SFP red card is to pull it immediately: I think that leaves little doubt that he intended to give yellow on yesterday's tackle until he got input to upgrade to red.
I wish I hadn't done that. I'm shocked. There's so much to criticize but this line, in particular, needs to held up for scrutiny and ridicule: Leaving aside the question of whether or not the fourth official did give input in this particular situation, the assertion Halsey makes here (masked as a non-existent "protocol") goes against everything being taught to professional referees around the world. The mantra is to get the call right. If the referee is about to make a mistake on a KMI, ARs and 4ths--if they have relevant information--are pretty much obligated to give that information so that, as a team, the officials get the correct decision. Professional referees are literally being taught the exact opposite of what Halsey says.
Hey, are we now considering CMI is same as KMI? CMI, critical match incident KMI, key match incident (so far the popular and accepted abbreviation).