Virgil van Dijk should get further sanctions – he deserved his red cardTrent Alexander-Arnold was lucky not to be sent off by referee John Brooks, after a soft yellow card for time-wasting against Newcastle

Virgil van Dijk backchatting – Virgil Van Dijk red card against Newcastle deserves further sanctionsVan Dijk’s reaction to his booking may result in further punishment CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES/ Ian MacNicolReferee John Brooks was spot on when he decided to award Virgil Van Dijk a red card for his challenge on Newcastle’s striker Alexander Isak.

The Netherlands defender denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity and Brooks did not hesitate to show a straight red, in line with the law, despite Van Dijk being in shock and arguing his case.

Replays show that Van Dijk clearly takes Isak’s trailing leg away from him in his attempt to win the ball and despite making contact with the ball, he has taken Isak down before doing so.

Var officials checked and confirmed that Brooks made the right decision but Van Dijk continued to debate with the referee and showed a reluctance to leave the field of play. TV cameras picked him up shouting, at Brooks, that he thought the decision was a “f—— joke” as he left the pitch.

Depending on Brooks’s report after the match Van Dijk should be in line to receive further sanctions.

However, the decision not to send off Trent Alexander-Arnold for a second yellow card offence has shown the impact Howard Webb’s changes are having on the game so early on into the season.

Trent Alexander-Arnold throw-in yellow cardAlexander-Arnold seemed surprised when he was booked for time-wasting CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES/Robin JonesWith the full support of the stakeholders in the game, Webb has empowered referees to take a more robust approach to dealing with clear and deliberate actions which delay play restarting.

While this part of the game needs to be brought under control, coming down so hard on it early in the season has left referees with little room to apply common sense. For years officials have applied a stepped approach when dealing with time-wasting or actions delaying the restart: a quiet word first, then a public rebuke before applying a card if the two former steps do not have a desired effect.

After being shoved by Anthony Gordon, Alexander-Arnold throws the ball away and under the new rules this constitutes a yellow card offence. That is the action that Brooks took.

Shortly afterwards, however, Alexander-Arnold again pulled back Gordon and put his arm across the face of his opponent in an attempt to bring him down but surprisingly Brooks kept his cards in his pocket. It looked like a sign of weakness which the previous yellow card forced him into showing.

In the 29 games before this one, we have seen 135 yellow cards this season at a rate of 4.65 a game – more than the usual three per game in recent season – with nine red cards before Van Dijk’s sending off.

It is clear unless the players get up to scratch with these new rules many teams will suffer from players being banned earlier and more frequently during the season.