Sheffield Wednesday: Law not correct, so change the law, argues Carvalhal

Seven days after the Argentinian striker was given a second yellow card for diving, following a tackle by Hull City’s Michael Dawson at the KC Stadium, the Owls are still seething at a perceived injustice.

Referee Tim Robinson sent off Forestieri, believing he had dived, although defender Dawson held up his hand immediately, the inference being he thought he had committed a foul.

Many onlookers felt Forestieri was wrongly cautioned, but under FA rules there is no route to appeal a yellow card.

If the player had been given a straight red card, Wednesday could have appealed and the card might have been rescinded.

Instead, the striker sits out tomorrow’s South Yorkshire derby with Rotherham United, plus Tuesday’s trip to promotion rivals Brighton.

It was the second sending-off in seven days for Forestieri, who served a one-match ban for collecting two yellow cards against Preston North End.

One of those bookings was for alleged simulation, which Carvalhal and the player hotly disputed.

Now, Carvalhal wants the laws governing yellow cards to be changed so clubs can appeal them if they believe they were shown incorrectly.

“If the laws are not correct, change the laws,” said the Portuguese coach. “We can’t appeal and that’s the feedback we have had. We can do nothing and it is very strange to me.

“Our first punishment was playing 30 minutes without Fernando at Preston. That was very hard for the team.

“The second punishment was his yellow card at Hull. I think everyone can see that it was a mistake, from the coach, players to the critics.

“The third punishment was it was a mistake against Preston, Hull and we can’t appeal it. It is three punishments, which are not correct.

“If you have a street that is one way and all the cars go that way and there are no signs up and crash their car one, two or three times, maybe after the first crash someone will change something by putting a sign up saying you must turn right or left. That is normal in life.

“I’m not having a go at the referee. It is not a question of referees. They can make mistakes just as I can.

“I can’t do anything. I have a problem with the situation.

“We have won games in the past without Fernando. It is not a big problem to us. The problem is it has damaged the image of the player.

“When something happens like this, everyone recognises it is not correct. They must change the rules.

“Fernando spoke to me after the game and said, ‘please do something’. It was a mistake. We have used the normal channels to try to solve the situation.”

Tomorrow’s game is crucial for both Wednesday and Rotherham.

While the Owls need victory to end a three-game winless streak as they chase promotion to the Premier League, Neil Warnock’s Millers want points to stay in the Championship.

Rotherham are three points adrift of safety in 22nd place with 12 games remaining.

“It will be an interesting local derby,” said Carvalhal, whose team won 2-1 at the New York Stadium earlier in the season. “The emotions are more high in these kind of games.

“They are fighting not to be relegated whereas we are in a good position. But derbies are different environments. We must fight and run a lot. We must play good football to beat them.

“They are better now with the new coach. But we are at home. We want Rotherham to feel the power of Hillsborough. We will fight until the first and last second.

“We have prepared for them well. We don’t change our style. We can adapt our team to the way the opponents play whether that is more direct or down the sides. When we don’t have the ball, we will be ready for them.

“There are teams who play a similar style to Rotherham in the Championship. We know exactly what we must do. With and without the ball, we must play our game.”

According to Carvalhal, February was Wednesday’s toughest month with regard to fixtures, where they played Hull City, Burnley, Birmingham City, QPR, Brentford and Preston North End.

In contrast, the sixth-placed Owls have just four games in March, including home games against two of the bottom three, Rotherham and Charlton Athletic.

“When we started that month, we were in seventh place,” said Carvalhal. “When we finished the month and jumped a position, it’s positive.

“All the games are difficult in the Championship, but in theory the last month was the toughest and I thought we did well. I think we can do better in the future.”