Monday 2 March 2015 14:37, UK
Alan Smith has described the weekend red-card controversy at Old Trafford as a ‘dog’s dinner’.
Manchester United beat Sunderland 2-0 but the game was overshadowed by referee Roger East’s decision to send off Wes Brown, even though team-mate John O’Shea appeared to have tripped Radamel Falcao.
In a statement released via the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) on Saturday evening, East insisted it was not a case of mistaken identity and he did in fact mean to send Brown off.
Forner Arsenal and England striker Smith belives such incidents could be easily avoided if the sport was prepared to embrace the technology currently available.
He told The Morning View on Sky Sports News HQ: “It was obviously John O’Shea who committed the foul but Roger East clearly felt that Brown committed the final foul that denied the goal-scoring opportunity.
“He’s looking at it from behind so I don’t know whether he thinks Wes Brown has pulled back Falcao or whether he had tripped him but the way he has interpreted it then it means that it cannot be reversed. They can appeal the sending off obviously but John O’Shea, I don’t think can be suspended can he?
“We don’t know whether Roger East got confirmation from his linesman. He’s obviously spoken to his assistant but his assistant may have said ‘Sorry Roger you are on your own here, I didn’t have a good enough view of it.’ “
The issue came on the weekend after football's rule-making advisory body, International Football Association Board (IFAB), decided to delay video technology trials to help referees for at least 12 months.
This is despite various parties, including FA chairman Greg Dyke, calling for pilot studies to be introduced and Smith is backing the use of technology to help the match officials.
Smith said: “The referee may have just gone with what he thought. It’s an absolute dog’s dinner and the fourth official may have had a chance to see it on a monitor and we could clear these things up so quickly.”
