Matic’s Moment Of Madness

Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic is a player after my heart and readers of this column will know I’ve lavished praise on him severally. For me, undoubtedly, he’s the best player in his position in the league and one of the best in that role in the world.

Check out his numbers for Chelsea this season. Only Cesc Fabregas has completed more passes than Matic this season and the former Benfica midfielder has also won the most tackles in the Premier League – nine more than Crystal Palace defender Martin Kelly. Take my word for it.

He’s that kind of player whose worth is only known when they are not available. And, if you ask me, he’s one of the reasons why Chelsea are flying high this season. Because he sits in front of the center-backs, he makes the defenders looked more solid and formidable than they really are. And even though his job description will mean he’s picked up seven yellow cards in the previous 36 games in all competitions for Chelsea, he’s been a model professional on the pitch.

 

However all of that changed last Saturday when the Serbian allowed a rush of blood to the head and attacked Burnley’s Ashley Barnes in retaliation for an horror tackle on his right shin. The tackle, if not for providence, could have sent Matic to the hospital with a broken leg and it is a mystery that Barnes remained on the pitch afterwards as referee Martin Atkinson obviously missed it.

It is my considered opinion that Barnes should get a lengthy ban and huge fine for attempting to prematurely end the career of a fellow professional. His supporters may argue that there was no malice intended in that tackle but then you can go and tell Marco van Basten that the tackle which prematurely ended his career was not malicious.

Whether intentional or not, Barnes committed a horrific foul that ought to be severely punished.

 

And, if you ask me, I also think ref Atkinson should be penalized for not spotting the tackle because television replays showed he was less than 10 metres away from the incident. If he claimed he didn’t see it, then what actually was he officiating if something that dangerous passed under his nose.

And if he claimed, in his opinion, that the tackle was not worthy of at least a yellow card, then it would be a serious error of judgement on his part. As a matter of fact, that was the second infraction of the game for Barnes who had actually lashed at Branislav Ivanovic’s knee when they both contested for a ball in the first half.

Had he been punished for that first act, he would have been more cautious with his subsequent face-offs with the opposition. So I question ref Atkinson’s judgement if he claimed to miss two game-changing incidents in one single game. Then, you want to ask, why the heck was he there?

Having said all of this, however, I disagree with Matic’s response to the mistimed tackle. You can rail and raise dust all you want but you DO NOT take the laws into your hands. You don’t retaliate, no matter the degree of provocation.

I expected Matic to have stayed down on the pitch and make it impossible for the ref not to notice him. If the ref noticed that a player was down, he could/would note it in his report and a review of the video afterwards would have ensured that retro-active action is taken against Barnes.

 

I’ve also read pundits, most notably Gary Neville, who tried to excuse Matic’s infraction by claiming that he was provoked but nothing can exculpate what the Serbian did because rules are rules and are to be followed or else why have them in the first place?

No matter how much we sympathize, empathize even, with Matic, we must also respect the rules or else we descend into anarchy. What is galling is Barnes gets away with blue murder while the victim, who escaped by whiskers, get slammed with a suspension. Unfair, so very unfair.

His expulsion led to Burnley’s equalizer and two dropped points for Chelsea. This will no doubt feed into Jose Mourinho’s conspiracy theory narrative that there’s a gang-up against his team. This is no conspiracy but a case of incompetence on the day by the centre referee.

Sadly, Matic’s ill-advised action took the spotlight away from the murderous Barnes and turned himself into a villain. By retaliating, he copped a straight red card and will now miss three games including the Capital One Cup final against Tottenham Hotspurs if Chelsea fail to have the red card quashed.

February 23, 2015