I was angry last night.

For 36 minutes, we watched what was shaping up to be one of the best games I have seen this season, and Arsenal’s swagger was evident to see as they pinged the ball around with confidence; making easy work of a Bayern Munich team that is 16 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

But then came the card. The red card.

At that point, had Mesut Özil scored Arsenal’s penalty, the game might not have been so drastically changed, but at 0-0 and down to 10-men against the Champions of Europe, Arsenal had no chance.

There is no denying it wasn’t a red card; Szczesny has made *some* contact with Robben, and he’s achieved a distinction in his degree for Performing Arts. But again, I think the rules need amendment.

Jamie Carragher alluded to it on Sky Sports after the game, surely a penalty is enough punishment for such a soft foul, and he is correct.. But it is not a viable change to the rules because there is a 50/50 chance of scoring or missing - the latter of which Alaba did - so there would be a lot of unrest around the teams, especially if they went on to lose, the player who caused the foul went on to score the winner.. You can think of the reasons yourself.

So I’ll come back to a previous idea I’ve mooted; the sin-bin. Other sports make use of it well; rugby union and league, hockey, water polo.. To get sent off permanently in those games, an action has to be not far off a criminal action, otherwise they are given a few minutes to cool off, during which time the opposition have to make the most of their advantage.

Last night was a perfect example of where a sin-bin would have worked, because as Jamie Redknapp then called it, it was a ‘training exercise’ for Bayern; Arsenal, who are usually possession masters, had 12% in the second half. Now is that fair given the softness of the foul? Not at all.

It would have been a different story had Szczesny gone straight through Robben, but you could see he stopped but it was too late, and although I obviously can’t condone it, he was probably entitled to make the gesture he did…

On a lighter note, we saw Fabianski play well on the weekend, and I think he did well last night given the circumstances; when does a substitute goalkeeper ever expect to play? Toni Kroos’ opening goal was something special, I’m not sure many keepers would have kept that out, and Müller’s header, he perhaps could have positioned himself better, but at the same time, Laurent Koscielny’s attempt at heroics backfired slightly and he was caught out of position. 

The rules of the game aren’t going to be changed anytime soon, especially with Mr. Blatter in charge, but when we have a proper leader of FIFA, then changes to improve the game might start to filter in, and it will become a lot less controversial and - as is the case here - damaging, because big world spectacles won’t be ruined.

Is there anyway we can fast-track Jerome Champagne in before the election in June 2015?