Reece James’ straight red card last night means a ban this weekend and for the first 3 games of our next campaign. It could mean even more than that, as Jason cundy speculated on TalkSport this morning.
The former Chelsea defender reckoned that James was in line to start on Sunday in our final league game, with a chance to prove his form and fitness to England coach Gareth Southgate ahead of the Euros this summer.
Now James won’t get that opportunity to play, and his chances of joining England in Germany have taken a huge blow right at the last. He’s played just 482 minutes in all competitions this season, and adding to that on Sunday could have been crucial.
“He would’ve started probably against Bournemouth at the weekend and [Gareth] Southgate would’ve been looking at that. That is a very expensive red card. It was a red card, can’t defend it,” Cundy said.
A horrible way to learn a lesson
It’s a funny one with James. He seems so peaceful and measured, he’s not a fiery character at all. Yet this isn’t the first time we’ve seen his frustration get the better of him.
Even as he trudged down the tunnel, he was hardly overcome by rage of grief. It’s so odd that an otherwise very level headed (almost excessively so) person also has these moments of red mist.
We do sympathise a lot with last night, as it was very much one of those moments where football’s rules don’t quite match up with reality. His kick out was certainly a red by the rules, but in reality it represented no more danger than the kicks from the opposition player which had sent him tumbling.
But James knew those rules, and he fell right into Joao Pedro’s trap. We hope he learns from this – missing out on the England squad for such a silly reason after all he’s been through will be an exquisite agony for him, and a very severe punishment.
