Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has called for more consistent officiating after yellow card drama took centre stage in their goalless draw with Bournemouth.
Palace defender Chris Richards was shown a second yellow in first-half injury time for tripping Justin Kluivert, not long after Bournemouth’s Alex Scott, who was already booked, escaped without punishment for a foul on Ismaila Sarr, who was driving goalwards.
Glasner felt the decisions should have warranted the same response from the referee.
He said: “I think when there is consistency in [refereeing] a game, then there should be two red cards or no red cards.
“This is what I felt and what I think everybody felt in the stadium, but in the end, we had to deal with the situation.”
Glasner said the fourth official had told him Scott’s foul was not worth a second yellow.
The Austrian continued: “It is either a yellow or it is not. If it is not enough for a second yellow, the Scott foul, then it is not enough for the Chris Richards foul, or it is enough on both sides. This is the only thing I am criticising today.”
Having conceded five in both of their previous matches, though, Glasner said that to earn a draw having been a man down for half of the match would do wonders for Palace’s spirit.
He continued: “We are not full of confidence after these two games which is completely understandable, the more I appreciate what the players showed today, how they performed in the second half, how they defended and also playing forward and creating situations in their box. A great team effort today.
“At the end, we got this point and maybe this gives us our togetherness, our spirit for the upcoming games. It helps today to get a fully deserved draw which we played [45 minutes] with ten men.”
