Of the yellow or red card decisions that happened in Aston Villa's last fixture, a certain Tyrone Mings's involvement is receiving an odd amount of ire from other fan bases. While Jacob Ramsey's second yellow was entirely too harsh, the head official was correct in granting the foul to the center back.
It's unfortunate, knowing now that Alex Scott fractured his jaw. The Bournemouth midfielder was attempting to catch the Villa defender off-guard and waiting behind, hoping to steal back possession. In doing so, Scott fouled Mings from behind.
Compare the incident with that of Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson. The Blues' striker looked while chasing down the ball, with a full head of steam, and looking at the opposing Newcastle player, maintained a high elbow at the head level of his opponent.
Mings, by contrast, had a moment to react to someone he saw out of the corner of his eye. In a split-second reaction, the AVFC player shielded the ball. As a defender, however, Mings did right to maintain his position, and the onus was on Scott to not try to play through the defender.
As is sometimes the case, it was the offending party who ended up receiving the worst of it. To hear some commentators and pundits call for his removal or suspension is beyond silly.
Aston Villa defender is receiving unjust criticism
In an effort to step over and protect the ball, Mings positioned himself between the player and the ball. At game speed and when forced into an emergency measure in front of the goal like that, the arm is never going to be able to stay perfectly harmless at a defender's side.
Fans who believe otherwise are more than welcome to try a similar maneuver at home. Attempt (leave some distance to avoid potential elbow-related injuries) to quickly step over from one position to another within close proximity. Then do so with the arms completely on the side. Compare that unnatural movement to what's then required during a Premier League game when an opposing player is doing something that is meant as a form of sneaky play.
Mings will likely feel bad because of the result, but he didn't do anything inherently wrong that warrants all of the criticism that he is currently facing.