Definitely a foul, the ref was right to see if there was an advantage and then pull it back. You have to believe that last (?) weekend's west ham incident made it easier for the ref to give the decision despite the player not going down, and he does deserve credit for that.
However, the red card would have been for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Because the ref played on for a bit and waited until the shot was taken before calling it back, the goal scoring opportunity wasn't really denied, it just wasn't capitalised on, so I'm not sure it should have been a red.
Contact started outside the box, but contact isn't a foul, it's when he pulls him back or restricts his movement that it becomes a foul. I'd need to see the replay again for myself, but does anyone else remember when the tug happened as opposed to just the initial contact?
However, the red card would have been for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Because the ref played on for a bit and waited until the shot was taken before calling it back, the goal scoring opportunity wasn't really denied, it just wasn't capitalised on, so I'm not sure it should have been a red.
Contact started outside the box, but contact isn't a foul, it's when he pulls him back or restricts his movement that it becomes a foul. I'd need to see the replay again for myself, but does anyone else remember when the tug happened as opposed to just the initial contact?
