Joe Hart's behaviour yesterday when he tried to put off Scott Sinclair as the Swansea City prepared to take a penalty was unacceptable and he should have been booked for unsporting behaviour.
I don't agree all that often with Graham Poll (he was unpleasant to me six years ago at the World Cup in Germany, when he decided I couldn't possibly be a referee) but he's right on this occasion.
If a referee has to stand in between the goalkeeper and the penalty taker, as Lee Mason had to do in Manchester, then the goalkeeper has clearly overstepped the mark. I don't know exactly what Hart was shouting but it was clearly aimed at unsettling Sinclair. And, we'll never know, but it may have done, because his penalty was a feeble effort that Hart saved easily.
Hart's behaviour was unsporting. The term was changed a few years ago from "ungentlemanly" but it's the same meaning. Shouting abuse or hostile terms at a fellow player is not acceptable, especially in the high tension of a penalty situation.
What if the penalty taker walked up to the goalkeeper and shouted in his face? I suspect he would be booked every time.
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