Manchester United were lucky to escape Selhurst Park with a point on Saturday after somewhat collapsing in the second half against Crystal Palace.
The Red Devils arguably should have been 3-0 up in the first half after peppering Dean Henderson’s goal with plenty of shots, hitting the crossbar on two occasions.
However, Eberechi Eze missed a golden opportunity to put Crystal Palace 1-0 up in the second half, while Manchester United also should have been down to ten men after a bizarre two-footed challenge from Lisandro Martinez on Daichi Kamada.
Now, a vote from the Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel in April 2024 suggests that a huge mistake was made regarding the Argentina international’s lunge…
What the Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel voted in April about similar offence to Lisandro Martinez challenge
Back in April, Jacob Brown, like Martinez, was only shown a yellow card for a similar lunge on Phil Foden, during Manchester City’s 5-1 win over Luton Town.
At the time, it was unanimously decided by the Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel that Tim Robinson and VAR Jarred Gillett were incorrect not to show the Luton Town No.19 a red card, noting: “The attacker (wrongly) gets away with this challenge because he wins some of the ball, but the technique of the tackle jumping in with two feet is shocking and very dangerous.”
ESPN – who cover these comments in The VAR Review – do not supply a new vote from the KMI regarding what Martinez did to Kamada on Saturday, but given the fact both incidents are practically identical, surely the same verdict will be given when it comes to the panel assessing the moment.
Premier League Match Centre comment will baffle Crystal Palace fans
The Premier League Match Centre on X (previously known as Twitter) is there to clear up any confusion over major decisions, but on this occasion, it arguably created more questions.
They wrote: “The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Kamada. VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming this was a reckless challenge and made no contact with Kamada.”
So, they admit it was indeed a reckless challenge, and the FA’s official rulebook (Law 12) doesn’t help David Coote out much either, as it reads: “Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themself) and includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.”
It does not matter that Martinez failed to make any contact with Kamada – the South American still endangered the Japan international, which, by the letter of the law, should have seen him dismissed.
