Mbappe gets a rest + other weekend stuff

Morning from Dublin.

I’m quite tired this morning as I stayed up late to watch the Masters. What a finish that was, in the end Rory McIlroy completed the career grand slam in a play-off, having missed a short putt to win it on the 18th. What would make golf on TV even more exciting is whenever a player makes a birdie, a member of the whooping, hollering crowd is instantly obliterated into fine dust. Nobody knows who, you just take your chances, and the world becomes a slightly better place each time.

I see Kylian Mbappe decided to get himself some rest ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid, by getting a straight red card in the 38th minute of their 1-0 win against Alaves. The tackle is, in very diplomatic terms, very naughty indeed. See it here.

Of course if that happened in the Premier League, it’d be a yellow card and we’d be gas-lit into thinking that was the correct decision.

What happened: Kylian Mbappe smashes into a studs-up challenge on the knee of his opponent. Referee Michael Oliver issues a yellow card as ambulance crews fight to save the limb of the stricken player.

VAR decision: Yellow card, uphold the on field decision

VAR review: Of course when you look at it, you immediately think it should be a red card, particularly when you see the player’s leg snapped into two bits and one of those bits also snapped into two bits. However, the VAR (Paul Tierney) has confirmed the referee’s on-field decision saying that while the tackle was hard, it did not have the brutality required for the card to be upgraded to red.

Some will argue that the threshold is too low, but the rules are very clear in that light brutality – such as that inflicted by Christian Brothers on their students with canes and straps – isn’t a sending off, but once you reach the stage of ‘Opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan’ then the referee can consider a red card. So, in the end the right decision was reached, which is: red card for Myles Lewis-Skelly.

I haven’t had a chance yet to watch Match of the Day 2 to catch up on yesterday’s highlights, but what a beautiful sight the Premier League table is:

Manchester United in 14th, having lost 14 games. It’s just a shame that Sp*rs can’t replicate that kind of symmetry by being 17th having lost 17 games. I guess them just being in 15th having lost 17 games will do, but they should try harder. I saw Ange Postecoglou talking before the game about how they had a leak in their camp: yeah mate, it’s called your defence. I’m sure a million people have made that gag already, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to ignore that kind of a tap-in.

As for United, I think this will be their worst ever Premier League season, and I just want to say that I think Ineos and Sir Jimmy are doing a fantastic job and need much more time to implement their ideas fully. It’s clear that turning the training ground canteen into a soup kitchen, laying off staff, paying part-time workers with Green Shield stamps, and turning one of the stands at Old Trafford into a water feature are really having the right effect in terms of standards and morale at that club. Keep it up.

Beyond that, we’ll wait for some team news and injury updates, although I suspect Mikel Arteta will play his cards close to his chest ahead of Wednesday. I guess we can see who gets on the plane and who doesn’t though. Are there airport stalkers the same way there are people who hang around outside the training ground/team hotel on matchday? We await their eagle-eyed reports.

Right, I’m gonna leave it there for now, but as ever we’ll have an Arsecast Extra for you today. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Pod should be out mid-morning, and later this afternoon we’ll have an episode of The 30 on Patreon, recapping all the weekend’s Premier League action. Some games might get more coverage than others!

Until then, have a good one.