“Purely theoretically, it was not a red for Sylla”: our house ref examines three crucial phases in Genk-Club

That it was a turbulent Racing Genk-Club Brugge to say the least. Not only the players and coaches, but also referee Lawrence Visser took on a decisive role. Our house ref Tim Pots focuses on three important phases. “Vrancken looked for his red card a bit himself.”

LOOK. What did coach Scott Parker think of Sylla’s red card

Had Joseph Paintsil earned a red card for his role in the Noa Lang brawl? No

“After a foul, I saw Joseph Paintsil give a strong push to Noa Lang, who then reacted. If Paintsil pushed in the face, then according to the rules it’s red. But that was not the case here. And then it must already be with excessive force to justify red and it was not. Lang’s reaction also didn’t deserve a red. Yellow for both players is a logical solution to this conflict.”

Should Sylla get red instead of (his first) yellow? No, but…

“Purely according to the rules, this was not necessarily a red card. In such phases you often hear about ‘intent to play the ball’. But that is no longer a criterion. Otherwise you would have to give red for every drawing error. The ability to play the ball is another criterion, in addition to physical integrity, intensity, place of contact and impact. Sylla could indeed no longer play the ball, but the tackle did not meet the other criteria. So, purely theoretically, it wasn’t red. Mind you: if you give certain guidelines at the start of the season, in which you say that brutal spoilage must be red, then it was of course a possibility here. It therefore also makes this phase a missed opportunity to follow those guidelines.”

Was the exclusion justified for Vrancken?

“His red card was actually the result of the yellow card that Muñoz received. I think there was none. Vrancken was right in that it was an exaggeration, but he had to be able to control himself afterwards. He had also been out of his technical zone several times. We cannot know what he said to Lawrence Visser. Judging by the body language, they weren’t kind words. If Visser thinks things are going too far, he must intervene. So Vrancken sort of looked for it himself.”