James Maddison held responsible for Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ sending off

Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has held Leicester City midfielder James Maddison responsible for Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ sending off in Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat on Sunday.

Having been booked for what was his first tackle of the game, Maitland-Niles was then shown red for his challenge on Maddison (his second of the game) by Michael Oliver.

As is normally expected of any sending off, there was a lot of kerfuffle among fans and pundits alike, though the latter mostly agreed that it was a bit harsh on the Arsenal right-back – Alex Scott and Graeme Souness (Paul Pogba fan) to name a few.

Pundits – and Arsenal fans – are not the only ones to hold that opinion, though, with former referee Mark Halsey suggesting the same as well.

In his column for The Sun, he deemed Maddison’s reaction as poor while also holding him responsible for the red card.

"“Ainsley Maitland-Niles was very unlucky to be sent off – and James Maddison can feel responsible.“Maddison’s reaction was poor as Maitland-Niles made no contact with his England U21 team-mate, but earned a second yellow card.“In real time it looks worse than it is, I would have managed that and given him a final warning. But you can understand why Maitland-Niles received his first caution as it was a careless challenge and denied Leicester a promising attack.“It wasn’t an easy game for Michael Oliver to referee as both sets of players were niggly.”"

To be fair to Maitland-Niles, he was undeniably and indisputably unlucky to see a red. The first tackle can still be considered a bookable offence but the second one is indeed all down to Maddison’s reaction, as Halsey has written.

The 22-year old has already been sent off once this season for diving against Brighton and Hove Albion, so you would think that he has learned his lessons; but he hasn’t, which is a shame because of how very good a player he is.

Maddison is fairly young and in a phase where there is a lot more for him to learn but “melodrama”, as they call it, doesn’t have to be on that list.