Yes, Hendry Thomas Should Have Been Sent Off Against LA

Richard Fleming wrote at length about Hendry Thomas' tackle-fest in his latest View From The Booth column, and seemed to imply that Thomas remaining on the field was the correct decision:

I'll put it this way: Those Galaxy fans are incorrect when they say that he should have gotten straight red carded for that tackle in the fourth minute. However, the tackle was probably yellow-card worthy, and the tackle he did eventually get a yellow card for was also certainly worthy of one. If I was the referee, that's two cards, red card, early shower, and he's not there to put in that header at the end of the half either way.

Richard is absolutely right when he says that Thomas meant no malicious intent on the players he tackled, and he goes on after that to say that it's just the sort of player that Thomas is. He's correct on that as well, but it must be noted that defending that type of player whenever he gets yellow cards or reds is a tricky game.

Do I think the MLS Disciplinary committee should suspend him for any additional games than the one that he already received for yellow accumulation? Absolutely not. Not a single tackle he made was malicious in nature, and none were from behind the play, trying to catch up by hitting the player rather than the ball, like the one that got him suspended against the Earthquakes.

Still, Hendry Thomas did, absolutely, deserve to be sent off early against LA. There will be no complaints around here, of course, that he wasn't.

(The only thing that Richard actually got wrong in his piece was the implication that Rapids fans should go back to that whiny inferiority complex they had in 2011 by singing 'No One Likes Us' again like Millwall fans.)

More from Burgundy Wave: