Here's my brother-in-law's take on the Barton red card

by MattG, Monday, May 14, 2012, 07:36 (5140 days ago) @ NDTerp

"In all honesty I am disappointed he didn't punch a few more as he was being sent off. A very soft red card. The most amazing game of football I have seen."

Of course, my brother in law is a 6-5 rugby player, a QPR fan, and has a lot of disdain for the fancy flopping inherent in soccer, so he's biased. But that was a lot of flopping.

I still think it's odd how, in the aftermath, everyone is saying that the elbow was "red for certain" when it's not even clear that he really connected in any meaningful way with either Tevez OR Aguero - certainly not enough to have both players screaming in agony and writhing on the ground. Tevez, frankly, appears to have been the instigator, and just turned out to be better at selling contact.

Then Barton kneed Aguero in the butt. He's admitted that he was attempting to get ManCity to retaliate, to try to even out the red cards, so yes, there was premeditation and he'll get some suspension. But Augero fell like he'd been shot, screaming, and then immediately got up and continued playing, even scoring the winner.

A great day for Queens Park Rangers - possibly the most important in their 100+ year history. QPR was a once-great club that came dangerously close to folding due to scandal and mismanagement. Suddenly, they wind up on worldwide TV, in a game that mattered intensely for both teams, and they played Man City to the wire short-handed (under somewhat dubious circumstances) - even taking the lead - and the world hears that they're staying in the premier league just prior to the miracle loss. They're suddenly one of the better-known "have-not" teams in England - at a minimum, they're miles ahead of where they were 2 days ago.

I'd be surprised if Barton gets any serious discipline from QPR. He'll sit out his 4 matches or whatever is mandatory - he may even yield the captainship to Tarrabt or somebody for the sake of appearances (but I think Barton remains one of QPRs better draws, so probably not). I doubt that they wind up facing the drop next year... they gained some momentum yesterday.