Michael Oliver's Trossard Red inconsistency was evident in an earlier incident

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND: Players react as referee Michael Oliver shows a red card to Leandro Trossard of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Arsenal FC at the Etihad Stadium on September 22, 2024. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Some experts claimed that Leandro Trossard had nothing to complain about after his second yellow card against Manchester City on Sunday, accusing the striker of a thoughtless action.

Trossard had committed a foul, but when he looked up and saw Gabriel Martinelli running, he lifted the ball over a City player and into the Brazilian's path.

The whistle had already blown and Michael Oliver judged Trossard to be delaying the restart and showed him a second yellow card. Arsenal had to play the rest of the game with ten men.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND: Gabriel Jesus of Arsenal reacts during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Arsenal FC at Etihad Stadium on September 22, 2024. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

But Oliver had been much more lenient a week earlier when Dominik Szoboszlai had committed the same offense.

Szoboszlai was also shown a yellow card when he committed a foul on a Nottingham Forest player before putting the ball into the box, thus avoiding a yellow card.

If we look at both incidents frame by frame, 1.07 seconds passed between the whistle blowing to Oliver's mouth and Trossard touching the ball. However, 1.13 seconds passed between Oliver's whistle and Szoboszlai's kick.

Szoboszlai had a little more time to react, but Oliver refrained from punishing him and simply showed the Arsenal player the yellow card.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND: Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool looks on during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Arsenal FC at Anfield on December 23, 2023. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

What is even more frustrating is that a potential red card for Szoboszlai would have had very little impact on the match, as Liverpool were already well behind in injury time.

Arsenal were leading with more than a half left to play and Oliver's decision completely changed the game.

The referee's job is not to apply rules when doing so would result in maximum disruption to the game. In fact, Howard Webb regularly claims that he tries to do the opposite: he lets the game flow and intervenes only when necessary.

If Oliver had blown his whistle at half-time instead of sending Trossard off, no one would have complained. Instead, he showed Trossard a red card for “delay” and then ended the half within four seconds of the restart.