Hackett: This is how Taylor should have handled Schlupp controversy in Palace clash v Arsenal
Jeffrey Schlupp’s challenge on Arsenal defender Calum Chambers should have resulted in a red card for the Crystal Palace man.
That is according to ex-Premier League and FIFA referee Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Palace on Wednesday.
With the game just four minutes old, Schlupp went over the ball with a rasping challenge, planting his studs on Chambers’ lower leg.
The Ghana international was booked by on-pitch official Anthony Taylor after a VAR review.
Hackett was in no doubt that Schlupp’s challenge was deserving of more than a yellow card.
However, he was quick to point out some mitigating factors on behalf of Taylor and claimed that his superiors should support him in his decision.
He told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley: “The Schlupp challenge, for me, was a red card. I’d send him off for that.
“I know it’s easy to say that when you’re looking at a television screen, but he’s gone over the boot. What the referee has done is given him the benefit of the doubt.
“Okay, it’s reckless for sure. It’s definitely a yellow. I think, if he was to look again, he might consider giving a red.
“In fairness to Taylor, he’s hardly got the right position. He’s experienced so he’s said: ‘Right, I’m not giving a red card for that’.
“But I think it’s excessive force and it endangers the safety of an opponent. Those types of challenges have got to be outlawed.
“Some of the difficulty is that as a referee, you only get to see it once. And to send someone off, you’ve got to be 100 per cent sure.
“In the mind of Anthony Taylor, he’s not sure that it’s a red so he’s given a yellow. If I was his boss, I’d be supporting him and say I can understand why he’s given a yellow.”
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