DeAndre Yedlin red card: Why the Newcastle defender was dismissed by Mike Dean for his shirt pull on Diogo Jota

DeAndre Yedlin’s shirt pull on Wolves‘ Diogo Jota was regrettable in every sense. The Newcastle defender had miscontrolled a pass, gifting the Portuguese a clear route to goal. Rather than backing his pace to get to the ball before Jota, he tugged on the orange shirt and the Wolves attacker went down.

Referee Mike Dean promptly issued a red card for the foul outside the box, clearly off the ball.

@NUFC are down to 10-men!

DeAndre Yedlin is sent off after bringing down Jota!

The right decision?

Watch live on Sky Sports PL now or follow: https://t.co/r9DEl0BtzS pic.twitter.com/SGOF9dlmcf

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 9, 2018

Many on social media initially reacted as if confused, clearly feeling the grounds for dismissal were harsh.

However, Mike Dean’s dismissal of DeAndre Yedlin was later ruled by pundits to be a pretty clear cut case which he had correctly identified the offence and the appropriate sanction.

What the rules say

Dean clearly gave the foul on the grounds that Yedlin had committed the foul off the ball with the clear intention of denying a goalscoring opportunity.

The rules state that for this sort of foul, a player can be sent off for “denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent whose overall movement is towards the offender’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick”.

The following must be considered in these offences:

distance between the offence and the goal
general direction of the play
likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball
location and number of defenders

It’s fair to say in this instance that Jota was through on goal and that Jamaal Lascelles was probably not going to catch him. Yedlin’s red card was probably the correct sanction.

Reaction

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Although some fans were initially arguing that Jota had pulled Yedlin, replays showed the Newcastle player had made the infringement.

Commentators on Sky Sports also assessed the foul and came to the conclusion that Mike Dean’s sanction was the correct action.

That said, some fans were unhappy with the decision.

You can plan all week long but you don’t give Mike Dean a sniff of an opportunity. He’ll gobble that up.

— NUFCThreatLevel (@NUFCThreatLevel) December 9, 2018

So Jota pulls Yedlin back leading to the foul and then Yedlin is sent off? Dean is such a nonce man, games gone, just poor poor reffing. #nufc

— Gianfranco Shola (@youmeandnufc) December 9, 2018

Jota takes the ball off Yedlin, races towards the box, hauled down just outside. Not sure he's quite last man but Mike Dean sends him off

— Tim Spiers (@tim_spiers_Star) December 9, 2018

RED CARD for Yedlin! Jota steals the ball of him and then Yedlin pulls him back as he's about to break into the box. Deserved red. #wwfc

— Joe Edwards (@JoeEdwards_Star) December 9, 2018

I think that red was quite a harsh one tbh. However, Yedlin very stupid to get into that position.

— LUKE (@luke16taylor) December 9, 2018

Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez also made his feelings on the matter clear, by signalling for VAR (hopefully in the knowledge that the technology is not in use in the Premier League).

What do you think?

@LouisAlexDore