A lot of people think West Ham United’s Aaron Cresswell shouldn’t have been sent off at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Cresswell thought it was harsh. So did West Ham manager Slaven Bilić. West Ham co-owner David Gold didn’t think it was fair. Even a fair few neutrals and pundits thought the left-back should have stayed on the pitch.
On his first appearance of the season following a serious injury, Cresswell set up the only goal of the game for Manuel Lanzini before seeing red for two bookings – the first for an alleged dive when there looked to have been contact from Crystal Palace midfielder Yohan Cabaye.
BILIC: "The first @Aaron_Cresswell yellow card was a penalty for us. The second yellow card is simply not a yellow card." #COYI #CPLWHU
— West Ham United (@WestHam) October 15, 2016
Because Cresswell was not shown a straight red card, Premier League rules dictate that the club are not permitted to appeal the ruling.
But Gold has offered up another solution which may well prove popular with those who are in favour of video assistance, but opposed to anything which might interrupt the flow of the game.
West Ham may have held on for a 1-0 victory, a result which has helped lift them out of the bottom three, but the club will have to make do without Cresswell for the home meeting with Sunderland next Saturday.
With back-up left-back Arthur Masuaku still recovering from injury, it was not the most welcome piece of news to his East London this weekend.
However, their co-owner has attempted to take the positives, and his suggestion has been met with a largely positive response.
@wilcock1990 I do not care if the game carried on a bit longer as long as the right result prevails!!
— DangerMouseWHU50 (@diltondiltond1) October 16, 2016
I think that's the best way to do it. Rugby matches sometimes waste a huge amount of time waiting for checks with the video ref
— Alex Wilcock (@alexwilcock90) October 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/paulholland1987/status/787745657721348097
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