West Ham United: Gary Neville surprised Vladimir Coufal was not booked in 1st half v Manchester City
Gary Neville was surprised to see Vladimir Coufal escape without a booking in the first half of West Ham United against Manchester City.
The Czech Republic international started at right-back and was given the task of keeping the enigmatic Jack Grealish out of the game for as long as possible and set about a very physical contest.
With just 12 minutes played, the 29-year-old lunged into a tackle as the England international looked to flick the ball around the corner for his City teammate and put pressure on West Ham.
Grealish and Coufal got to the ball at a similar time but it was the Citizen who nicked the ball as intended and went down in a heap as the Irons defender clattered into him, but the referee opted not to give a free-kick or brandish a yellow card.
“He goes into him as he flicks it round the corner,” Neville said on Sky Sports Main Event [Sunday 7 August, 4:40pm]. “Coufal is lucky, he should have seen a yellow card for that.”
Old-school
If that tackle was deemed to be worthy of a yellow card then it’s time to pack up the goalposts and never play football again.
By its very nature, the beautiful game is a contact sport and that sometimes means that such a collision will happen but that doesn’t make it a free-kick every single time.
Modern referees, particularly in the top divisions, have started to cave under the pressure of moaning managers who believe everyone is out to hurt their players when, in truth, they are just more committed.
It’s no surprise to see Grealish be the one rolling around on the floor when nothing is wrong with him at all because we have seen it happen every time he has played in his entire career.
You have to wonder if any of these players would cope in non-league where a giant centre-half would happily come flying through you to get the ball and not even bat an eyelid back.
One thing is for certain though, Coufal would fit right in.