A big topic for discussion following Aston Villa’s scoreless draw with Reading at the Madejski Stadium was the alleged stamp by defender Tyrone Mings on Nelson Oliveira.
It was undoubtedly nasty and anyone who saw the incident knows that, let alone the photos of Oliveira after the clash, but having watched it a few times, the calls for retrospective action and lengthy bans actually say more about the character of those calling for that response than the actual incident.
It’s football, it’s not always pretty and clashes like that unfortunately happen. It doesn’t mean someone’s to blame.
So, Mings has a previous suspension as the Premier League believed he stamped on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I remember that one as well and it didn’t look deliberate to me either. But because he’s already been charged once, he should automatically have been charged this time, despite the referee seeing it and seeing nothing in it, and despite the fact it was Mings who drew attention to his opposition colleague so he received quicker treatment.
Mings’ words after the game with a fulsome apology count for nothing either.
As a striker, Oliveira will have (without meaning to) clocked someone with his elbow or left a bit on them and been punished. Does that make every clash he’s involved with a deliberate one because he’s got form?
Don’t be soft. Accidents in the game shouldn’t be overly punished with a kneejerk reaction, whilst clear ‘intent’ should absolutely be punished.
Don’t let that stop some social media meltdown though but people should be focusing on how rare clashes like that are and should instead be wishing Oliveira the speediest of recoveries.
As a club, we ensured that the referee & the FA were fully aware of an incident during Saturday’s match which caused injury to our striker, Nélson Oliveira. But as the incident was seen by the ref at the time, we understand no retrospective action can or will be taken by the FA. pic.twitter.com/AXYa8N9Rgg
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) February 4, 2019
