It wasn’t quite as costly as Wayne Rooney’s stamp on Ricardo Carvalho at the 2006 World Cup, and nor was it as defining an image as David Beckham flicking a leg at Diego Simeone during England’s clash with Argentina almost a decade prior, with both incidents playing a major role in England exiting two World Cups with their hearts broken and two newly-crowned scapegoats ready to be slaughtered by the media.
Instead, when Reinildo (a former general of Simeone’s at Atlético Madrid, no less — perhaps
that’s from where his “on the edge” playing style originates) saw red for a petulant kick at Aston Villa’s Matty Cash, it forced Sunderland to play for almost an hour with ten men in a game that would’ve been tricky enough to negotiate with eleven players on the park.
Thankfully, the Lads rallied and eventually fought back to claim a point. “Do it for Reinildo” might not have been the mindset from that moment on, but they certainly weren’t going to let his dismissal blow them off course, as Wilson Isidor’s late equaliser proved.
In the aftermath, Régis Le Bris didn’t haul the Mozambican over the coals for his transgression; instead, there was simply a calm and reasoned response along the lines of “He knows he got it wrong. He’ll serve the ban and come back more strongly”.
Indeed, had he not blotted his copybook with the red card against Villa and the concession of a penalty against Brentford, he was building a strong case as one of the signings of our summer, with his athleticism, experience and defensive guile proving key.
However, since Reinildo was reduced to the role of spectator, it’s fair to say that the cost of his three-game ban has been notable, as with Dennis Cirkin some way from match fitness and other viable options thin on the ground, it’s fallen to Arthur Masuaku to deputise and the former West Ham defender has found the going tough, with a patchy performance against Nottingham Forest being followed by an equally shaky display at Old Trafford.
Somewhat paradoxically, Masuaku arguably boasts just as powerful an engine as his teammate and isn’t afraid to roam forward, but he was also given a stern workout by Forest and United’s speedy attackers and his positional shakiness is a weakness that other sides would undoubtedly target.
On a free transfer, Masuaku probably wasn’t the worst addition we could’ve made and there’ll most likely be times during the season where he’ll play a part — possibly during ten or fifteen-minute cameos towards the end of games — but assuming Cirkin regains full fitness and works his way back into the first team picture, I do wonder whether Le Bris might consider him as a viable alternative, even in spite of his contractual uncertainty.
Fortunately, our next game and, a clash with struggling Wolves, is the final game of Reinildo’s ban and with the possibility of a switch in formation to cope (Chemsdine Talbi at left wing back, perhaps?) maybe we’ll see a little more defensive solidity as a result. Le Bris isn’t known as a tinkerer, but given Wolves’ position towards the foot of the table and our own impressive record at home, if ever a game stood out as one to switch things up, this could well be it.
When Reinildo does make his return to the fray — and he comes straight back into the starting eleven, for me — perhaps it’ll be with his combative instincts slightly curbed and a greater appreciation of the importance of discipline at this level.
We all want players to bring passion and a full-blooded approach to every game.
That’s why Trai Hume, for example, is such a popular figure at Sunderland, but with cameras everywhere and a man in a caravan at Stockley Park monitoring Premier League games with his eagle eye, you simply can’t get away with the kind of hot-blooded reaction Reinildo showed against Villa. He’s not the first to fall foul of modern-day top flight officiating rules and he won’t be the last, but under different circumstances, it could’ve been incredibly costly and these are risks we simply can’t afford to take.
Let’s hope that when we welcome the popular left back into the fold, it’s with more of a measured approach and the ability not to fall into the traps set by the league’s resident wind-up merchants. He’s too important a player to get mixed up in that kind of nonsense.
