John Barnes believes Ashley Young was right to be sent off following a controversial moment in the Everton game against Liverpool on Saturday (21 October).
Speaking at half-time for beIN SPORTS, the pundit said in his day the challenge that saw the Toffees defender receive a second yellow probably wouldn’t have been a foul.
But he said you have to be “careful with your tackle” in the modern day when you’re already on a yellow card, as the 38-year-old received his marching orders in the first half of the Blues’ 2-0 defeat at Anfield.
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“It took much more than that to get a red card than in our day, that probably wouldn’t have even been a foul,” said Barnes. “I can understand and I know Andy (Gray) is not happy in the studio. In our day that could’ve been a foul, but not even a yellow card.
“But in this day and age, they’ve always said if you’re on a yellow card, you have to be careful with your tackle. Now obviously, I’m a bit old-school like Andy and in the grand scheme of things you can say it’s a bit harsh to be a yellow card.
“But in this day and age when you know tackles like that are yellow cards, as much as I sympathise and I’m a Liverpudlian and I’m happy about it, it’s a yellow card because of the nature of the game, which I don’t necessarily agree with but these are the new laws.”
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Rash
It’s hard to really put much of a defence up for Young because it was a rash challenge that saw him receive a second booking after picking up a yellow card earlier in the half.
The game has changed from years gone by and that is always going to be an offence that’s likely to be given a booking, so it was a disappointing error from such an experienced player.
The major issue from the game, though, is the lack of consistency that was shown by the referee, as Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate should undoubtedly have been sent off in the second half.
The Frenchman made a clear foul on Beto that should have seen him handed a second yellow, but the referee let him off before Jurgen Klopp substituted him just a minute later.
With the game still 0-0 at that point, that decision potentially had a major impact on the game as the Reds used their extra man advantage to go on and take all three points.
