🚨Gary Neville on Ryan Gravenberch receiving a second yellow card after fouling Jérémy Doku, in a conversation with Roy Keane:
🗣️ Gary Neville:
“I have to say, I’m really not comfortable with that decision. I looked at Roy Keane beside me and said, ‘Roy, are we seriously sending a player off in a game like this for that?’
Roy looked at the replay and said, ‘Gary, he’s already on a yellow. You have to be careful when you’re in that position.’
And I said, ‘I understand that, Roy, but look at the incident again! Doku is quick, Gravenberch gets across him, there’s contact, and suddenly Liverpool are down to ten men. Is that really what we want deciding a game of this magnitude?’
Roy replied, ‘The referee has to judge the foul, not the occasion. If you’re on a yellow, you can’t give the referee another decision to make.’
Fair point. But I still think the referee has to use some common sense. Not every foul from a player on a yellow card automatically deserves another booking. You have to look at the nature of the challenge, the intensity and whether it genuinely warrants a second yellow.
I turned to Roy again and said, ‘The problem is that Liverpool are now facing a completely different game. Their midfield has to change, their shape has to change, and everything they planned before kick-off has gone out of the window.’
Roy shook his head and said, ‘That’s why you don’t put yourself in that position. At this level, you have to be smarter.’
And I can’t disagree with him on that. Gravenberch has to be more careful when he’s already been booked. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t question the referee’s decision as well.
Two things can be true: Gravenberch should have been more disciplined, and the referee’s decision can still be debated.
What frustrates me is that we’re talking about a second yellow card instead of the football. Liverpool are at Anfield, the crowd is electric, and one decision has suddenly put them in a position where they have to chase the game with ten men.
I asked Roy, ‘If that were one of our teams in a title race, would you be happy with that decision?’
He replied, ‘I’d be furious if my player got himself sent off. But I’d also want to know whether the referee got it right.’
And that’s exactly where I stand.
The referee has the authority to make that call, but authority doesn’t make every decision correct. Gravenberch has to take responsibility for the foul, and the officials have to take responsibility for the consequences of sending him off.”