[Albion] Pedro's "challenge" on Walton

[Jim in the West]

Watching from the stands I thought it was just a 50/50 and accidental. I think Pedro was entitled to go for the ball, and the “shoulder to head” thing is just Pedro actually trying to take evasive action. It’s obviously worse if you start to watch it over and over, especially in slow motion. However, it could easily have been a red on a different day - but the ref let quite a lot go (esp some tasty challenges from Delap, and that pull-back by one of their guys, which stopped a breakaway, and was 110% a yellow).
Things have a habit of evening themselves out, and maybe that makes up for Baleba’s second yellow at Bournemouth.

 

[rippleman]

Totally agree.
I ask any Albion supporter to imagine he was playing for another team.
Last night and the elbow in particular were totally wreckless and out of order but there’s plenty of other examples of a really nasty side to his game.

As nasty as Delap whose only contribution in the entire 90 minutes was elbowing our players, shoving them out of the way, barging them to the floor?

Delap was far luckier to stay on the pitch than Pedro

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

It isn't violent conduct

So there's a short back pass..........

The goalie HAS to go 100% and fully commit to winning it.........

The striker HAS to go 100% and fully commit to winning it.........

Logic dictates that someone will get there first and someone will get there second..........

If it's a close chase, there will inevitably be a big collision.

If you're saying it's a red card I think you're saying one of two things. A) committing fully to that chase is not permissible under the rules. Or B) Joao Pedro in that example took the chance to deliberately hurt Walton.

I know some people are suggesting B is the case. I just don't think there's evidence for it. At that pace there is very little either could do to reduce the impact. If he had moved a forearm towards his face or something similar fair enough. But that isn't what happened.

Big collisions happen in football and the life of a keeper means you'll be on the receiving end sometimes.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Neither did the ref or VAR, I would suggest they are the ones who are correct

They were wrong

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

They were wrong

No they weren’t

 

[SeagullinExile]

He jumps into walton and from what I can see makes contact to Walton’s chest with his shoulder and like braggfan said in rugby he’s off
I think it’s definitely intentional,what other reason is there to jump in the manner he did
Very lucky and personally can’t make any case for anything else
Just saying

Why do people keep using Rugby as a comparison? The risk of serious injury in Rugby is far higher, hence the much stricter rules regarding contact.

 

[Mackenzie]

I wouldn't have been surprised by a red, had we been playing a Liverpool, Man U etc it may well have been, fortunately we were playing Ipswich.

 

[FloatLeft]

I’d love to see the response of the Pedro apologisers if it had been Verbruggen on the end of that.

 

[Commander]

I don’t really get what people want Pedro to do here- freeze in mid air? Contort his body and somehow dive sideways while on flight? He went for the ball, didn’t get there and then turned his body to avoid injury. If he’d have led with his arm then it would be a clear red card, but he didn’t.

 

[amexer]

Stupid challenge

 

[SeagullinExile]

Maybe I'm mis-reading the law but I read the endangering the safety in the same clause as a lunge. Is Pedro 'lunging' or is he trying to back out of a challenge to block the ball? If it's a separate thing it shouldn't really be in the same sentence and you could then make an argument that pretty much any physical challenge could endanger the safety of an opponent. Every competitive jump, every tackle, every competitive header.

So, I don't think Pedro has lunged, I think he's backed out. Has he endangered the safety of Walton by making the challenge? Arguably so, but that would mean a red every time there's a collision in an arial duel.

Arguably, Pedro turning mid air stopped a serious clash of heads, potentially injuring both players.

On that basis, I reckon he should be awarded a fair play award!

 

[Braggfan]

Why do people keep using Rugby as a comparison? The risk of serious injury in Rugby is far higher, hence the much stricter rules regarding contact.

The risk might be far higher, but that just means Rugby was quicker to recognise the danger of head injuries.

There's also precedent for football adopting rules that Rugby put in place first, such as Video replays and concussion rules.

It doesn't matter if the games are different, sensible rules are sensible rules.

 

[SeagullinExile]

I’d love to see the response of the Pedro apologisers if it had been Verbruggen on the end of that.

I’d be thinking the same. No red.

 

[pb21]

Maybe I'm mis-reading the law but I read the endangering the safety in the same clause as a lunge. Is Pedro 'lunging' or is he trying to back out of a challenge to block the ball? If it's a separate thing it shouldn't really be in the same sentence and you could then make an argument that pretty much any physical challenge could endanger the safety of an opponent. Every competitive jump, every tackle, every competitive header.

So, I don't think Pedro has lunged, I think he's backed out. Has he endangered the safety of Walton by making the challenge? Arguably so, but that would mean a red every time there's a collision in an arial duel.

I think that lunges are considered separately to challenges more generally? Pedro challenged for the ball and in doing so did he endanger the safety of Walton? If so, it would be red.

But I think you’re right, every challenge endangers your opponent to an extent, so really it should say reckless challenges that endanger an opponent.

Was Pedro’s challenge reckless? Arguably IMO.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I remember being in that situation once in park football. Chasing down a short backpass to a keeper, (who I was probably giving up 6 stone to, but I was much quicker). As I was getting closer the only thought I kept saying to myself was "if you bottle this challenge, you'll be dropped" , "if you bottle this challenge, you'll be dropped" .

So I kind of get there, knock it to the side of the keeper, I absolutely smash him. But he's fine. Every ounce of oxygen has just been knocked out of my body and I feel like I want to be sick. I've got the energy to look at the ball to see if one of my teammates is there to knock it into the empty net.

Every single one of those c**** was standing on the half way line. Some starting to snigger. Goalie walks over and picks it up. Ref was happy to wave it all on.

I guess that is just the nature of football though isn't it. You play enough, you'll get a situation where you have to go for a big challenge and pain will probably follow

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I’d love to see the response of the Pedro apologisers if it had been Verbruggen on the end of that.

I’d have been more annoyed about the shit backpass……

 

[Audax]

I went with yellow. But would not have objected to a red.

Yellow because he's clearly playing the ball, he's at full pelt, and he's made a clear effort to pull out once he saw he wasn't going to get there. That last bit is what mitigates it down to yellow IMO.

But I'd be ok with a red because ... why did he make the leap after he put the brakes on? Once he's gone to air like that he's fully out of control of what happens next. Would have preferred to see him stay grounded and make an attempt to go either side of Walton instead of clattering him off the deck like that.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I think that lunges are considered separately to challenges more generally? Pedro challenged for the ball and in doing so did he endanger the safety of Walton? If so, it would be red.

But I think you’re right, every challenge endangers your opponent to an extent, so really it should say reckless challenges that endanger an opponent.

Was Pedro’s challenge reckless? Arguably IMO.

The dictionary definition of a lunge is a sudden forward movement. Given that he was already running, and so was Walton, it is a coming together recklessly.

My Ipswich friend was behind the goal and messaged me to say she didn't know how he stayed on the pitch for his elbow into Walton.
But we now see it wasn't his elbow but his shoulder.

Imo, it is orange. Reckless = yellow but I wouldn't have complained had it been red.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Why do people keep using Rugby as a comparison? The risk of serious injury in Rugby is far higher, hence the much stricter rules regarding contact.

And more importantly, physical contact is a specific and frequent part of the game.
Hitting an opponent's head with your shoulder in Rugby, will be due to ill-discipline, deliberate action or poor technique.

The number of collisions in Rugby are massively higher than in football.
Which is why there are specific laws dealing with the manner in which those contacts can be made.

 

[Creaky]

Difficult to argue that Pedro was challenging for a ball that was on the ground by jumping in the air.

At best he was anticipating where the ball may go after Walton cleared it, in which case he must have recognised that Walton was getting to the ball first.

IMO red.