Swansea's topsy-turvy season has seen us pick up fewer yellow cards than any other Premier League side, but rack up five reds - only Aston Villa (6) have managed more
Nobody likes seeing one of their players being sent off, and it's especially galling when it's universally adjudged to have been a ridiculous decision. Spare a thought, then, for Swansea City and Garry Monk, who have seemingly been on the end of some rather harsh decisions so far this season.
We've managed to rack up only 38 yellow cards this season in 26 games, which is pretty good going. About 1.5 per game, on average. Sunderland have picked up the most with 65, followed by Man City (58), Arsenal (57), Stoke (56) and Tottenham (55). Now lets look at reds. We've had five, but when you include cup reds the total rises to a remarkable eight. Wayne Routledge and Federico Fernandez saw their reds at QPR & Liverpool successfully overturned, but what of the others that stuck? Let's look through them all.
Bony v Southampton
Probably fair. We can't really have too many complaints about this one. Two yellows for perhaps silly challenges made the game difficult when it needn't have been.
Angel Rangel v Sunderland
Two yellows again, and definitely on the harsh side. The second yellow involved him being punished for essentially being run into, while the first was for throwing the ball away. Stupid but fair. I think on another day both decisions would be flip of a coin yellow cards depending on how the ref is feeling, so it definitely seemed we'd been hard done by on this occasion.
Fernandez v Liverpool (Capital One Cup - rescinded)
Ridiculous. Next!
Shelvey v Everton
Again, possibly harsh but generally fair. Shades of Rangel here - the first for throwing the ball away and the second for being run into. On another day neither would pick up yellows, but this wasn't another day.
Fabianksi v West Ham
Urgh. No arguments here - silly challenge which didn't help our cause.
Routledge v QPR (rescinded)
Even more ridiculous than the Fernandez red.
Bartley v Blackburn (FA Cup)
Very harsh I thought but he did put his arm across the Blackburn man. What I would say is that if Bartley had been playing at home for a "big" Premier League side I'd have been absolutely amazed if he'd have seen red. We're Swansea though, and it's clearly not too much fuss sending our boys off.
Sigurdsson v Blackburn (FA Cup)
Just daft. Out of character for Sigurdsson, and borne of frustration. I doubt you'll see Sigurdsson do that again in his entire career.
What I take from this is that, on the whole, our red cards have come as a result of referees taking the rules literally, and not allowing any margin for error. While is is applaudable if applied evenly and consistently, that simply can't be the case. Players throw the ball away every game - are yellows given? No, of course not. We saw Mark Noble smash into Nabil Bentaleb in the derby between Spurs & West Ham while already on a yellow - was anything further given? Was it heck. "Just calm down boys, you don't want to make me get my cards out".
While I can't claim we've been particularly hard done by in any of the red card decisions we haven't appealed, what strikes me is that if we've had this many reds for innocuous incidents then why haven't all the other Premier League clubs experienced the same zealous officiating? It seems we're currently being managed to the letter of the law, but other teams don't get the same treatment.
Sunderland, for example, have 65 yellows as mentioned - the most in the league. Just one red card. So there have been no occasions where one of their players has been run into while already on a yellow? Or time-wasted? Or thrown the ball away? I find that hard to believe. Man City - 58 yellows, just two reds. Arsenal 57 and also two reds. Stoke 56 yellows and NO reds! I'm not saying these sides are guilty of anything more than we are, just that I think it's a stretch to assume these teams have had the same strictness in officiating as we've witnessed all too often this season.
In conclusion, if match officials are going to referee to the letter of the law that's fine. Just make sure you do it with everyone else, too.