Ref "lost it" in Poland-Greece Euro opener: Webb rules

It's an accusation referees face frequently from players during a game; that they've "lost it." This usually happens when you show a card a couple of times within a few minutes.It's usually just a weak effort to undermine the ref and doesn't work.

But if there's ever a classic case of a ref losing it, it was in last night's tournament Euro2012 opener between Poland and Greece when Spaniard Carlos Velasco Carbalho handed out two red cards that were not strictly necessary.
Carbalho has had an interesting last 12 months.  He handed out 15 red cards in 19 Spanish league games this season with an average of 7 yellow cards a game. But in Champions League games, he did not hand out any reds.
It's interesting to compare Carbalho's performance with that of Howard Webb reffing the later game between Czech Republic and Russia. While Carbalho was quickly into the swing of handing out yellows, Webb held back and kept his cards in his pocket.
Carbalho started digging his grave when he booked Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos for a minor offence. He could have had a word with him, or indicated that next time he'd be in trouble. It's called the stepped approach and every ref knows it. But No, he went straight for a yellow card. A few minutes later there was another minor challenge in which a Polish defender went to ground pretty easily. A foul? maybe. A yellow card, No? Unless the referee wanted to make the point that he had committed two fouls in five minutes and was going in the book.
No, Carbalho got the red card out and sent the Greek off for minor offences. I'm pretty sure that Webb would have either booked the defender for the second challenge or just had a word with him.
Then there was the sending off of Arsenal's Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny for Denial of an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity, when the Pole caught a Greek attacker in the penalty area. But was it a red? The attacker was heading at 90 degrees to the goal and there was an argument for keeping him on the field.
All in all, Carbalho didn't seem comfortable reffing this game and made a couple of decisions that were a little hasty.
On the other hand Webb exuded authority in Wroclaw, using positive and strong body language to get his message across to players in what was, it has to be admitted, a reasonably easy game.
Webb deserves some joy at the Euros after his experience four years ago when he was made to suffer through no fault of his own and ended up with being threatened with death by Polish fans.