Just been watching the Barnes incident again in slo mo. Yesterday I was sat right opposite and it looked like Barnes went in with both feet up and deserved the red ... also completely bewildered as to why Burnley fella didn't go too for the throat retaliation. Looking this morning and I've changed my mind ... Barnes went in with one foot up but as the other guy was clearly going to get the ball Barnes pulled out, got his foot down but his momentum kept him going and it was a simple case of just falling over the outstretched villain. Given the ref was about 6 inches away this was a dreadful decision.
I dont think it was a case of Barnes rationally making a decision that the other guy would get the ball. It looked like he saw the incoming studs, and decided discretion was the better part of valour.
Actually, Barnes can consider himself lucky.
With the misapplied red, he misses 3 games. If he had gone into that challenge, he could be missing months with a shattered leg.