'TAKE RESPONSIBILITY' 🗣️ Steve Nicol on Declan Rice's red card vs. Brighton | ESPN FC

two points for Arsenal at home yes so here are the match dos after this game it finished 1-1 and as mentioned michaa is not happy after this match the referee makes a decision that changes the course of the game the red card is obviously what everyone's talking about what do you think of it I was amazed amazed amazed amazed because how inconsistent decisions can be in the first half there are two incidents nothing happens and then in a no critical area the ball hits Dean Hill he turns around he doesn't see the play coming touches the ball by low he can make that call but by low then he needs to make the next go which is red card so we play 10 against 10 so this what amazed me it's at this level is honestly amazing that yeah he said yeah obviously we had a reaction that it was back to goal that is no is in the middle of the part that they trying to counter or anything anyway I have repeat myself by law you want to do it you didn't do it in the first half do it but then you have to play against them that's it very simple well here's what payo saaka had to say after the game we just want some consistency sh Pedro booted the ball halfway across the pitch at the pitch in the first half and got nothing for it deck got the slightest touch and was sent off that was Dean Race's first red card in his Premier League career let's welcome in naam and newa now to talk more about this what have you made of this whole situation here naam do you know this is a really interesting topic because yes we can have the conversation about consistency but then I think what Dean rice did is still worthy of a yellow card in itself I think artetta felt it felt like he was trying to Gaslight me a little bit there saying it just touched his heel and it went off not really I think you can see that Dean rice had sense that vman's trying to kick the ball forward so he's just cheekily nudged it to the side and by the letter of the law that will be a yellow card I think Nal Pedro one as well should have been a yellow card but I think if people want consistency then also like have the conversation about well should Dean have been yellow carded then is it yellow card offense I think for a player that hasn't been sent off before in his career I think to even take the chance at all whether it's consistent or not I think that kind of misses the point because worst case scenario for him another way that he could have been sent off is if he stood in front another the ball and velman kicked it into him at that point the referee's probably going to give him a yellow card anyway so I think he's mismanaged that moment and yes the referee could have been more consistent throughout the game but when you put yourself in a position where the referee can make a decision and it doesn't go your way I think to only say that someone else should have been booked negates the fact that also your player in my opinion should have done better in that moment for for the cool people in the room what what is gaslighting when you turn it around on the other person basically okay is is this a new term is this something that I should be familiar with it might be good that you're not familiar with it it might be a good thing okay okay was that an okay description by by me na uh yeah it's not far off it's just as I was listening to Aletta speak like firstly when it happened in real time Aletta had his back to the moment so he didn't necessarily see what happened and I think unless I was mistaken in that interview saying that it just hit his heel and it went off to the side we didn't I think everyone here that's played or anyone's played football anywhere you know when you're just being a little bit cheeky with something because Dean rice could have just walked away without touching the ball at all but his reaction's probably come because you saw someone sprinting trying to kick the ball so it's just an instinctive thing that he's done and it's a mistake that he's made but I think unless I'm mistaken again unless I'm mistaken it seemed like arteta was trying to tell us that it just happened by accident but it definitely happened on purpose in my opinion Stevie he's calling for consistency is there a point there from him see I think we're gone a bit this the wrong way we got to start with him kicking the ball away you know at the end of the day Dean rice knows that that's a yellow card and at the end of the day Delan R has to look in the mirror and understand that his decision to do it is the reason why he got sent off it's very easy for a tataa AA to start saying oh the it's a referee's fault it's not the referee's fault we can argue all day whether the referee's discretion to let the first one go and give the second one is the wrong thing but the real point is what dickan rice did is a yellow card and he has to face the consequences for his decision he's the one that kicked the ball this red car has nothing to do with anything else that happened previously quite frankly so you got to take responsibility that's the Crux of the matter now yes we know that referees have got discretion in certain areas certain things are black and white but there are certain things that they have discretion and he chose not to give the right discretion both sides which is again not the right thing to do but again the bottom line is if dickan rice doesn't kick the ball away then he doesn't get sent off so at the end of the day he's the one responsible for getting sent off not the referee I I have to say I disagree I I whose fault is it for kicking the ball away I I don't see this as a red card I don't see I don't see this as as a yellow card I don't see this as as any kind of incident that warranted any more than a firm talking to by by the referee I the the I understand from a plane perspective you know Dean rice is on a card I think what what you're doing there is is you're trying to egg him on almost to give the to just to say to the referee that if something else happens um and it involves Dean rice well well look at that you're not thinking you're not thinking he's going to pick up a yellow card for that and and just to say well he's kicked the ball away and by the letter of the law I I I don't think that does the game any justice that you you referee solely by well this is the law I'm applying it firmly every single time Common Sense has to has to come into play Common Sense has to Prevail here and and for me if the referee did nothing but speak to both players or speak to both sets of players I don't think anybody including everybody who's playing for Brighton including everybody who's supporting Brighton has a has an issue with it I I just thought that this was just cheap silly and and could have so easily been dealt with differently can can I just say I don't disagree with what you're saying my point is is a without Dean rice kick no I I I get it Dean R let me ask this let me ask this to make let me ask this the players know that the referee is going to do that when that let let me let let me ask this and and Al's gaslighting gas lighting if if Dean rice doesn't flick the ball away slightly as as he does and just continues or just stands as the ball hits the heel and the Brighton player I can't remember who it is comes and kicks into him as he does does anybody see that as a red card no I I don't I and I don't think I don't think the referee should send him off but facing the wrong way yes my my my point is the Brighton player comes and kicks Dean rice across well catches him just below the knee right orbe with with his shin part of his leg the by the left of the law you kick somebody below the knee that's a red card but if if that every referee does nothing about it as he did no but he has a problem with it I I don't I just don't see it as I just don't see it as as being um anything at all egregious anything at all even warranting a yellow card naam yeah I I'm more on Stevie side with this to be honest because the way that I perceive it is in this moment like in the game Declan rice is on a yellow card I think it's fair to say that from when you are on a yellow card even though you can try and play exactly the way that you did before you have to make slight adjustments and I think one of those adjustments would be to get away from that position because veltman's ended up kicking him because velman was trying to kick the ball him to getting yellow carded anyway so that's gamesmanship by velman from that standpoint I think for rice to even be in that position I think I just think he's switched off and I understand the arguments about inconsistency and so on but I think it was last year where the rule was like hardened like if you kick the ball away you will get booked that's why Arsenal was so outraged by the jel Pedro one in the first half I think years ago you'd be like oh come on ref you need to book him but again the incident doesn't need to happen de Ras is a good enough and smart enough player to not be in that situation full stop and again it's because he's on a yellow card and I think because it led to a red that's the big conversation but I think by itself it' be a yellow just I think pretty much every day of the week because he's allowing himself to be judged by the referee in a way which he did not need to at all and I think from my side again when the argument from the Arsenal perspective is about consistency I think it's sort of deflecting away from the fact that the decision making in that moment from somebody very experienced was incorrect Al and a couple of things about what areta said first of all there are angles that show that areta gets upset with the initial foul that is called on Dean rice he turns his back right and unless he has eyes in the back of his head he's actually not seeing what developed afterwards so he didn't actually see the play must have been shown in replays but he didn't actually see the play so what he's trying to portray that actually happened did not happen the other thing that I would say is if if indeed you get to a point in and you're your Your Arsenal you're in control of the match you've given up control of the game and still you felt at least from my perspective that Arsenal would go on to win the game because of the chances that they did create and so while they can get hung up on this card or that c or what could have been or what might have been there was still an opportunity for them to win the game and besides that areta goes on to say and to assume that the game would end up 10v 10 why how where is that assumption coming from and what kind of message are you sending this as I understand it now this is gaslighting this is indeed telling me something that was not actually what was happening out on the field because you're assuming that Jo Pedro is going to get another car somewhere else and he did right at the end at the end of the at the end of the match but don't tell me that the game should have been 10v 10 and so then the reality of the game changed because of that card I I and that's I think bending the truth which managers tend to do from time to time to explain results but this is bending the truth much more so than actually explaining what happened on the field well one thing that is for sure is after that red card things change dramatically when you take a look at the stats we've got the splits of before and after the game when it comes to obviously possession shots on goals and expected goals but even with this Stevie you still feel as though even with the 10 men AR should have come away with a win at full time yeah absolutely listen he had two good chances uh we we saw the the hars one where he was cleaned through uh and actually zaka had a a tough chance where he was stretching from across from havs that might have won the game as well and actually defensively arsenal were really really good except for that one horrendous moment when Gabrielle and celba who for the what past two years have been absolutely outstanding were all over the shop I mean there must have been 18 20 yards between the two of them and one pass from the back line went straight up in the middle of the park all the way through and they end up losing the goal so again if you want to turn the thing on the referee you can but if you actually want to look at the the game you could have and probably should have still won the game do you agree with that na yeah I think that's fair I thought havs was a fful throughout the game and he's obviously started the season very well as well and I think that one-on-one that he created for himself you know I I fancied him to score that and then the sacker opportunity as well I think they did still carry a threat I think Brighton's L defensive line it's not the quickest and I think Arsenal at times were exploiting that yes obviously Brighton had all the possession they had a lot of the territory but even when Arsenal brought on MAR I still believed that they'd be able to hit them on the break as such so I think as Arsenal walk off the field there'll probably be disappointment about the red card about the fact that you know they were in control of the game but I agree with the guys that in this moment they still had good opportunities to go out there and to sort of see the game off but fortunately just wasn't meant to be all right so that's how things are standing with Arsenal dropping points in this game [Music]