Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn believes Max Dowman will learn from his red card against Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup, but also thinks the dismissal reflects how football has become far less physical than in his own playing days.
Dowman was shown the first senior red card of his career at Highbury Stadium on Wednesday night after reacting to a strong challenge from Fleetwood's Harrison Neal. After Arsenal failed in their appeal, the 16-year-old will miss three games through suspension at a time when Bukayo Saka's injury leaves the Gunners short of options out wide.
Winterburn on modern football's physicality
"In the Premier League even, occasionally you get a strong challenge, you get a reaction to a tackle, you get a bit of verbals," Winterburn told Express Sport courtesy of Virgin Bet. "There's nothing changed in the history of football. It's less physical but those challenges that are coming in now, in the way that the modern game is played, people feel that they are still physical.
"You could go back and look at some of the games and tackles that I was involved in and you'd be going, 'Oh, boy, oh, boy' compared to today.
"But you're adjusting to the modern football. So there's still going to be verbals going on. There's still going to be aggressive tackles. That's what happens when players get wound up in particular games and big moments.
"It's always happened, it always will happen. And if you think people are going to react, absolutely they will, but they know they shouldn't."
Was the red card justified?
After the match, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta indicated he had spoken to his players before the game to make them aware of the treatment they might receive from their League Two opponents. Even if Dowman rose to the bait, though, Winterburn isn't convinced it was worthy of a red card. He maintained he would be saying the same thing even if it wasn't an Arsenal player at the centre of the incident.
It is a steep learning curve for a youngster who was recently dismissed while playing for England Under-19s and will no doubt be tested by more opponents in the future.
"You can tell people as much as you like but when the heat is on a little bit and you think maybe the challenge is strong - it was strong, that's for sure - and then it flips in a second, you've reacted," Winterburn added. "I think the reaction of a lot of other players made the referee decide that it was a red card because if you look back at that, I've watched it several times now. I mean, it's not a kick.
"He sort of leans forward, his foot's more on the ground and he pushes his knee, doesn't he, into the player. If we're getting sent off for that then we're going to have a lot of sendings off.
"But it's a big learning curve. He's been hyped up, he's talked about, he's a brilliant player, he's young, and defenders are not going to want the mickey taken out of them by a 16-year-old. So you should know or you should have been told, you know what's going to come some of the time."
Arsenal's response after Fleetwood defeat
Winterburn also knows full well what it's like to suffer such a humiliating defeat in an Arsenal shirt. He was part of the team beaten by fourth-tier Wrexham in the 1991/92 FA Cup and admitted it's not the kind of result you can just brush off in a hurry.
Arsenal will need to do their best, though. They face Liverpool on Sunday and could end the weekend in top spot if they manage to better Manchester City's result against Brighton.
"I'm not sure what the conversations were but what I do know is that the Arsenal players, the same as us, will have heard the celebrations not only outside the stadium but in the home dressing room as well," he said.
"You've got to take it on the chin. It's a very, very poor result for Arsenal. It's a brilliant result for Fleetwood. But what you need to do really, and I suppose supporters in a little way don't like when players say this, is you've almost got to forget about that game.
"Let me tell you, people will be talking about this game for a long time. You can't get away with it. As games and giant killings go, this game's going to be listed probably at the very, very top.
"But in in terms of what Arsenal are trying to achieve, where they're trying to go, you dust yourself down and you go again. And you make sure that you try not to suffer too many losses as the season develops."
