Max Dowman will miss Sunday’s trip to Liverpool after Arsenal’s appeal against his red card at Fleetwood was dismissed on Thursday.

The 16-year-old will also sit out the home game against Hull and the visit to Newcastle, all for kicking out after Harrison Neal flew in on his standing leg late in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup defeat. The appeal verdict is hardly a surprise, but as we argued this morning, it’s part of a much wider problem in English football.

Plenty of people have criticised his reaction, including Mikel Arteta, who had a stern word with him as he walked off. But Alan Shearer saw something else in it.

Alan Shearer admired Max Dowman for staying on his feet

Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Shearer felt the referee was too quick to reach for the red card, and he admired how Max Dowman handled the challenge itself.

“Do you know what was admirable?” he said. “There are a lot of players that would have gone down screaming, rolling around, getting that challenge. Yet he stood up and took what he had to take. So from that point of view, I thought, yeah, I don’t mind that.”

He’s got a point. Plenty of players would have stayed down and made sure Neal was punished. Dowman didn’t, yet he’s the one who’s ended up serving a ban.

Gary Lineker agreed. “I quite admire the fact that he stayed on his feet for what was probably quite a dangerous tackle,” he said. “I think the referee should have just perhaps given a yellow card each and got the game going.”

Shearer also warned that this won’t be the last time. “Because of how good he is, he is going to get that,” he said. “He is going to get people wanting to come in and crunch him.”

Micah Richards: ‘What do you mean he shouldn’t react?’

As far as Micah Richards is concerned, it was “never a red card”, and he has no time for the idea that Dowman should have just walked away.

“You know how annoying it is when people say he shouldn’t react. What do you mean he shouldn’t react?” he said. “If the tackle would have been a fraction higher, a fraction lower, it breaks his leg. It’s a natural instinct, a natural reaction to react, especially when you’re 16.”

Dowman’s ban starts at Anfield on Sunday, where Arsenal will already be without Bukayo Saka and are sweating on the fitness of Noni Madueke and Christos Tzolis.