Reading the Referee: Dorgu’s Card and a Weekend of Key Decisions
Incidents in both games created noise, not least the Dorgu yellow card as Minteh ran towards goal.
Two weekend fixtures drew attention for refereeing decisions: Manchester United v Brighton and Brentford v Liverpool.
Both games featured incidents that illustrate how officials interpret fouls and denial of chances.
At Old Trafford, the yellow card followed a foul on Yankuba Minteh.
Minteh looked through on goal, prompting debate about last man rules.
The incident underlined a key point: a foul alone is not a red card.
Therefore, referees must assess denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity using specific criteria.
In practice, that distinction matters for decisions on potential red cards.
Thus, the takeaway is that last man does not equal automatic red.
In Brentford v Liverpool, similar questions arose about denying a clear goalscoring chance.
These episodes show referees balancing foul calls with actual scoring opportunities.
- A foul is not automatically a red card; denial of a goalscoring chance is judged against defined criteria.
- The weekend highlighted how referees weigh context against the foul to decide red cards.
- Brentford v Liverpool provided a parallel example of last man debates and GOA denial.
Patrick Dorgu
Brentford