Yes it was poor and, yes, it could’ve carried a straight red but it didn’t actually stop anything other than KDB - it was Kelly’s foul on Sane that the ref blew up for.

I don’t think there can be any retrospective punishment either as Punch was booked.

Will this be five? It's gonna be five! It IS five!

Just watched the replay for the first time after reading your post. I was expecting it to be a lot worse to be honest.

It’s a bad tackle but no worse than what you’ll see most weeks on match of the day. It was a professional foul to try and prevent the counter attack. I don’t think there was any malice in it. He injured himself so I guess that’s karma.

Further evidence of how bad Puncheon has become I'm afraid. Gone from being an attacking threat to doing nothing to now being an absolute liability.

I've certainly seen refs send people off for that sort of thing but then we've also seen refs do nothing about similar tackles. There's a still of de Bruyne still standing up with Puncheon's leg across him but his boot already past, and it is only one leg, so presumably the ref just deemed it a bad example of a late tackle. What Graham Poll thought is neither here nor there because he also thought Wilf dived and that's clearly bollocks.

Puncheon is injured himself and will be out for as long as any ban would last anyway, and it was right at the end of the match, so he's not better off than if he'd been dismissed anyway. And he was s*** again, the only Palace player who was less than excellent, and should be getting put on the market, which with his injury now probably won't happen. I don't think I'd play him even if fit if I were Hodgson. He only got on the bench in the absence of Schlupp and McArthur, and Riedewald has now overtaken him by miles as well. And then we still have Lee, of course, who I don't think is worse either.

I think this player's star has now definitely set for good.

Edited by chateauferret (01 Jan 2018 10.28am)

Edited by chateauferret (01 Jan 2018 10.35am)

============
The Ferret
============

Did he?

As pointed out above, his job was to stop the counter fairly and safely. He didn't stop the counter - the ref only carded him when he stopped play later for a foul on Sane, having played the advantage. He didn't do it fairly - he got a yellow card and might easily have been sent off. And he didn't do it safely - both players were taken from the field on stretchers.

He didn't do anything else useful either. In a game of great performances he was very, very poor.

============
The Ferret
============

They can't talk about anything else on NSC so you can gripe away to your heart's content on there. It wasn't the greatest tackle, but we've had, and will get, the same and a lot worse done to us, so get over it. I certainly won't be wearing sackcloth and ashes and flailing myself over one poor tackle. I don't think the Huddersfield support were beating themselves up over Wilf's injury and we shouldn't be just because it was De Bruyne; so what?

Bexley Dave

Can you hear the Brighton sing? I can't hear a ******* thing!

"The most arrogant, obnoxious bunch of deluded little sun tanned, loafer wearing mummy's boys I've ever had the misfortune of having to listen to" (Burnley forum)

Am I to take it that you approve of what he did in the spirit of pragmatism?

Or maybe you think'if it needs to be done , it needs to be done. After all, everyone's at it'

Not any idea of chivalry but playing by the rules and the spirit f the rules. There can also be pragmatism at work if we want there to be.

The punishments need to fit the crime and then this kind of disgrace would no longer be seen to be 'worth it'. Believe me, managers, the biggest pragmatists of all, would put a stop to it just like that.

I fear I sense in your reply that you think it's ok? Surely not.