Leeds United were lucky to have all 11 players on the pitch at the break, as Gary Neville and a former referee said one of their players could easily have been sent off.
Darren England managed the game well, letting many intense challenges go unpunished, as he felt a game of this magnitude deserved some leeway.
He wasn’t card-happy, but he did yellow-card Bruno Fernandes for a challenge on Tarik Muharemovic, and Gabriel Gudmundsson was also cautioned.
However, a former Premier League referee and Neville feel that the Leeds defender could have been easily sent off after what happened on Saturday in another league game.
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Gary Neville insists the Leeds star escaped a red and a former referee agrees
Gudmundsson protested the yellow card when his challenge on Andrey Santos was punished. However, Neville stressed he had no grounds for complaint.
He said the defender was lucky to avoid a red card.
“It is absolutely a yellow card,” he said on Sky Sports.
“He’s gone for the standing foot of Santos, and he’s caught him.
“Gudmundsson can have no complaints whatsoever about that being a yellow.
“I think any more force in that, and it could have been a red.”
Neville also insisted Ethan Ampadu was lucky to escape a yellow card earlier in the half for a tackle on Brian Mbuemo.
He added: “We have seen yellow cards given for those. Ampadu can count himself lucky the referee hasn’t shown him a yellow card.
“It’s one of those where you would normally see a yellow card.”
Former Premier League referee Darren Cann has also conceded that Gudmundsson can count himself lucky that England was being lenient and didn’t produce a red card.
Darren Cann said on the BBC: “Gabriel Gudmundsson made a very risky challenge on Andrey Santos.
“His tackle had similarities to Ryan Sessegnon’s red card for Fulham on Saturday, with both players making contact with their studs on the back of the calf/Achilles of their opponents.
“Gudmundsson could also have easily seen red instead of the yellow card he received. I think what saved him was that there was a little less intensity in his challenge; however, he could’ve had no complaints had a red card been shown.”
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A red card would have been too harsh
Gudmundsson definitely deserved the yellow card. However, a red card would have been too harsh, especially in a Leeds-Manchester United game.
These kind of games are bound to attract some tough challenges, and England did a good job in the first half to allow the game to flow.
A red card to Gudmundsson would have completely changed the game and would have been a rod on England’s back for the rest of the clash.
No mention of there about the penalty Leeds should have got the you little bias get , when slab head clearly fowled Ampadu in the box,