One of these men will be available to play Premier League football again this weekend, and lo and behold, it is not the innocent Andre Gomes (left).
Martin Atkinson’s decision to brandish the red card to Heung-Min Son (right) for his part in Andre Gomes’ injury on Sunday was not even deemed worthy of a VAR check.
In fact, the Premier League released a statement following the clash at Goodison Park, stating: “The red card for Son was for endangering the safety of a player, which happened as a consequence of his initial challenge.”
Yet now, in full U-turn fashion, the Premier League have rescinded Son’s red card and subsequent three-match ban, following Tottenham Hotspur’s appeal.
According to Sky Sports, “An Independent Regulatory Commission assessed the case on Tuesday and agreed it was wrongful dismissal.”
In another weekend of football headlines dominated by off-the-ball controversy, this decision leaves Evertonians scratching their heads furthermore.
Due to a minor incident between both Gomes and Son, literally moments before, Son’s ‘innocuous‘ follow-up tackle was nothing of the sort – and resembled much more of a revenge-type tackle.
Heung-Min Son’s tackle most certainly ‘endangered the safety of a player’, and although it bared no intention to injure another professional in such a manner, there was visible malice in the challenge which resulted in Andre Gomes’ ankle fracture dislocation.
From this view, it is evident that there is no intent to play the ball. Some have argued that Son’s tackle did not cause the break – and that it was more of a consequence of a Heung-Min Son and Serge Aurier ‘sandwich’, if you will. But how can you say Son is not to blame for this initial challenge?
After the incident, Heung-Min Son was pictured by Sky in tears after his tackle resulted in the horror injury of Andre Gomes. Viewed by many as his reaction to the unintentional repercussions, perhaps such theatricals were just sheer realisation that his revenge, heat of the moment, tackle has caused such a nauseating injury.
Directly after the incident, Everton players, namely Cenk Tosun, consoled Son amongst other Spurs players after seeing the sickening aftermath of the South Korean’s tackle. Why? An Everton player has just suffered a horrific injury, and blue shirts are gathering in numbers to comfort Tottenham… Who is the victim in this incident?
Even Seamus Coleman embarrasingly went into the away dressing room after the game to “check on Son.” When the captain of Everton Football Club goes into the opposition’s dressing room to console someone who has just seriously injured an Everton player, then the Blues’ title of ‘The People’s Club’ gets taken for granted, exploited and ridiculed.
Lucas Digne was the only player to show any exasperation towards Spurs whatsoever. In an Everton side which is spineless to the core, it takes someone to have been brought in from a club such as Barcelona, who breed a winning mentality of player and a ruthlessness which is needed to progress.
Whilst Everton, as a whole, stayed quiet on the matter post-match, Spurs’ boss Mauricio Pochettino and Dele Alli orchestrated the British media perfectly, whilst plucky Everton got taken for granted oncemore.
The latter spoke to Sky Sports after the match, stating: “It’s not his fault, Sonny is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and he would never mean to do something like that and if you see his reaction in there, he can’t even pick his head up – he’s crying that much.”
The ‘nice guy’ persona which Dele Alli attempts to portray is conceivably fallacious. This is not the first red card the number seven has received, and I doubt it’ll be the last – as evidenced in Spurs’ trip to the Vitality Stadium last season.
Son’s temper got the better of him oncemore as he lashed out at Jefferson Lerma, back in May, in a similar incident whereby a previous coming together had occurred between Heung-Min Son and an opposition player, causing Son to then lunge in recklessly after immediate revenge. Luckily on that occasion, no serious injuries incurred.
After Alli’s interview, numerous headlines opened with feelings centred around Son’s unrest rather than Gomes’ injury. Despite the fact that the South Korean is in the travelling squad for Spurs’ trip to Belgrade in the Champions League, and Gomes is out of action for the foreseeable future.
As The Football Association’s ‘Law 12: Fouls and Misconduct‘ states that serious foul play is:
“A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.
Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.”
It is apparant as to why Heung-Min Son was red-carded. So, why has he been made out to be the victim of his own wrong-doing?
And more importantly it begs the question; why rescind the red card?
Images courtesy of Everton Football Club, and Дмитрий Голубович via Creative Commons.
Oh for gods sake, Everton fans crying again. So it was a slide tackle, and it “endangered a players safety”. Like MOST tackles, they endanger a players safety and there have been FAR worse tackles including from Evertons own bunch of efforts that have fortunately not resulted in serious injury. Sons tackle was meant innocently, it was just really unfortunate that Gomes’s foot got caught up on the pitch. Therefore, get a better pitch if you’re looking to whinge at something. No one liked what happened to Gomes and I’m sure any fan of football regardless of where their affinity lies would wish him a speedy recovery and return to PL football but seriously, quit your crying because you just make yourselves look really stupid.