Robertson absolutely mugs Sterling as he’s trying to cut back in the box. Robertson initiates contact with his arms out grabbing Sterling as he tries to get past him. How can that not be a foul?
Yes, Sterling’s arm gets behind Robertson’s head and helps bring Robertson down on top of him, but that’s only because Robertson had him wrapped up and prevented him from changing directions. I don’t see how anyone can think that isn’t a foul.
Not much difference in slow motion. Guarantee the AR saw it the same way, and Taylor had a dead on look at Sterling's arm as well. What didn't help Sterling either was that he went down a LOT in that game. Way too much.
And for what it's worth, Kompany's tackle will rarely result in a sending off in the PL in a 'big' match. This is pretty much a known thing. Vardy goes in during a meaningless game with two feet, lunging, misses the opposing player entirely and gets sent off without hesitation. That's just how they do it in the PL.
As far as Lovren's tackle goes, it's pretty much a by-the-book yellow card. Either for a reckless or tactical, pick your poison. Big difference between that and Kompany's challenge is a) this wasn't a 90 degree challenge which reduces the possible impact quite a bit b) Lovren kept his leg down and c) the risk to Aguero was nothing close to the risk to Salah. Salah tried to leapfrog Kompany and it kept Kompany from striking a planted foot with his studs. That's a big ow.
When you come from behind to stop an attack like that, you need to make an attempt on the ball. Lovren did, he was just well off and caught the front of the leg. Compare that to, say, the Forsberg tackle on Lahm a couple years back. Similar situation, but Forsberg was completely behind Lahm and stepped right on the achilles of Lahm's trailing leg. Referee didn't even hesitate to send off Forsberg.
foul in my view. Of course, my view doesn’t matter much.
As for the Lovren tackle, I think where we differ is that I don’t think he tried to play the ball. I think he tried to take out Aguero because he knew he had no chance at getting the ball. You don’t get credit for playing the ball when you don’t come anywhere close to getting it, and you had no chance of getting it in the first place. Thus, I think he could have been given a red. At the end of the day, though, I don’t expect (or want) a red given in that situation. But I’d probably say the same about Kompany’s tackle. I’ve seen far worse tackles not get red...especially in big games. Ashley Young’s tackle against City last year comes to mind. Virgil Van Dijk’s tackle against Napoli was also worse, and that’s in European competition, which is stricter than EPL.