Former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster has claimed that an incident in Newcastle’s victory over Aston Villa should inspire a rule change.
There was controversy as Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez rushed out of his box and fouled Miguel Almiron, who could have otherwise scored, with the World Cup winner receiving a yellow card rather than a red card.
By the letter of the law, a yellow was perhaps justified as defender Pau Torres had recovered to a position where he was deeper than Martinez, who was therefore not the last man, but it is now being claimed that the punishment does not match the offence.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Foster claimed that the rules should change to be harsher on such offences by goalkeepers, with Almiron denied the goalscoring opportunity, whilst Villa and Martinez got away with little reprieve.
“I think this might be something that might need to be looked at for the rulebook to be honest,” Foster stated.
“It is very similar to that (Nick Pope sending off against Liverpool last year) but I know, the reason why he got a yellow is because he’s not the last man, there’s a defender back there.
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“But once he gets past Martinez, it’s an almost guaranteed goal, and the punishment is only a yellow card. Basically, it’s a free kick and a yellow card in a position where it’s not going to threaten the goal.
“So I think this is something that might need to be looked at a little bit.”
A frustrating moment
Although Newcastle went on to win 5-1, there was frustration at the incident at the time, with the game on a knife-edge at 2-1.
Almiron was arguably denied an easy route to goal, with Martinez making a cynical foul, and he happily traded a yellow card for a goal.
A rule change where the keeper would receive a red card for such an incident far away from his own box may be a more proportionate punishment, and it remains to be seen whether this example will be used to enforce change.
Newcastle did have the last laugh over Martinez as Eddie Howe’s side went on to score three more times in a brilliant victory, but Almiron himself may look back at this moment with some annoyance.