It took a few days, but we’ve finally reached a point of resolution, one that most not currently wearing Chelsea shirts saw as closest to correct. Diego Costa, the Premier League’s preeminent bully, got his seemingly well-earned castigation from the English Football Association: a three-match ban that feels like a rolled-up newspaper swatting the nose of a naughty puppy. Gabriel Paulista, whose admittedly stupid “kick-out” — or rather, non-contact boot-raising aimed in Costa’s direction — will be allowed to play this weekend after his red card and subsequent three-match ban was overturned.

TIMELINE: Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal | Costa, Gabriel charged | Arsenal win appeal | Costa banned

That’s not to say there isn’t room for debate. Chelsea fans are perhaps right to assert that Gabriel’s intentions should trump his lack of kicking accuracy. And certainly, the crux of Arsenal’s appeal — external video provided by ESPN Brazil, the only camera that picked up that Gabriel did not make contact with Costa’s leg — should raise concerns about consistency of enforcement as well as what’s permissible evidence in appeals. Regardless, most casual observers see a bottom line: The perpetrator on this day was Diego Costa, whose constant disregard for what constitutes fair play is as frustrating as it was predictable.

So here we are, justice has finally been reached. Or has it? This disciplinary switcheroo came days after the final whistle, long after the result of the game was changed irreversibly in the span of a few minutes. After all, the game was tied when the controversial decision came. It’s possible Chelsea may have been on their way to another win over their London rivals, but we will never know. Surely a missed red card followed by a soft one awarded the other way, a two-man swing, would have affected the match one way or the other.

Whichever way you feel about the decision itself, the fact remains that yet another one of this league’s marquee matchups, two teams picked by many in the preseason to be fighting over the title, was marred by a refereeing decision. We spent the days following one of this league’s biggest games not marveling over individual talent or dissecting the subtle tactical changes that swung momentum to one side or the other; rather, we’re forced to focus on the moment where it all went awry, when the game slipped irredeemably from the officials’ hands.

And yet referee Mike Dean, whose obliviousness to Costa’s inevitable tactics bordered on the unbelievable, will take the field this weekend at Upton Park. He won’t get any more training or any more in-game help. Mike Dean, whose superiors made the rare ruling that beyond a shadow of a doubt he was wrong enough to be overturned, will face no discipline or even a review for essentially blowing one of the highest-profile games of the year.

It’s easy to pick on referees. With the advent of super slo-mo high-definition instant replays, it’s easy for viewers to act as judge and jury for what is a largely difficult and thankless job. But maybe it’s time to start thinking about how to make them better, and if they can’t improve, hold them accountable. Diego Costa’s tactics are no secret; even casual observers could see it coming from a mile away. The fact that Dean didn’t seem to notice, or at least be vigilant of his antics, was incomprehensible. Costa will be off the pitch for his mistake. Why not have the same level of accountability for the referee?

Some argue this adds to the drama; that the so-called “dark arts” employed by players and the human error in judging them can make instantaneous heroes or villains out of players and officials alike. But I doubt many Arsenal fans, or even casual observers hoping for an exciting and fair game, are raving about the drama. They feel cheated, and it’s not hard to see why.

Maybe the Premier League, with its billions of TV rights dollars, can invest more in quality officiating, which time and time again has a huge influence on some of its biggest and most important matches. Maybe the league could pay to hire the best of the best, or bring in more help, either via manpower on the field or technology off it. And if the officials who have induced pregame cringes from fanbases for years can’t keep up, maybe they should see the same level of accountability that they impose on players.

It would be too melodramatic to say there is a refereeing crisis in English soccer, but there’s a palpable and growing frustration about bad officiating in the most important games. Despite the fact that we’ve reached a just decision in the end, much of the damage has been done, and it’s irreversible. It’s not enough to determine Costa’s and Gabriel’s fate after the fact. We need to figure out a way to stop it from happening again.

Referees need support from the Premier League. And if that doesn’t work, they need accountability. Because unless something changes, we will only see more players pushing the rules, cheating to win, and doing the things many claim to despise. And most importantly, the fans will continue to be cheated out of some of the biggest moments in their team’s year.

The responses were as instant as they were predictable. It was the summer of 2014, and Manchester United were interested in a talented young English left back.

“Luke Shaw should stay at Southampton, it’s important for his development.”

“Luke Shaw should show some loyalty to the team that made him, not jump for a paycheck.”

It was a resounding message from media outlets and former players alike, and not an uncommon one. Raheem Sterling was accused of the same this summer. There was a sliver of truth: Luke Shaw was going to get a significant pay raise, and there was a small risk he would not get the playing time he needed to develop into the player he can be. And while the argument wrongly discredits Shaw’s contributions to his own development, it is true that Southampton, over the course of 11 years, had invested in and contributed significantly to Shaw’s development.

Fast forward to the present day. After a shaky first year plagued by injuries, Shaw was finally proving the critics wrong. He had finally grinded into form and become a rare bright spot in the otherwise dour start of Manchester United’s season. But it only took one moment, a sudden and devastating slide tackle, for that development to be stopped in its tracks.

Now Shaw faces months of rehab before he can even walk again, months more until he can kick a soccer ball. And, with a compound fracture of both of his lower leg bones, it remains to be seen if he will ever be able to reach the same level again. This isn’t to say he can’t return — Aaron Ramsey suffered a similar injury and is playing better than ever — but history tells us that’s an aberration; this is usually a career-stunting, if not a career-ending, injury.

SEE MORE: Shaw scheduled for second surgery on Friday.

So as the cameras zoomed in on Shaw face’s on Tuesday, choking back tears through his oxygen mask, it was hard not to think of those who called him greedy just a year ago.

It’s part of a recurring theme in soccer and sports fandom at large: turning athletes into commodities. We can sit at our desks and pinpoint the difference between a $20 million player and a $25 million player. We can look at a wage bill and say this player is worth $90,000 per week while another is worth $150,000. Often, it’s used as ammunition against certain clubs. This club is doing things right, while another is doing things wrong.

It’s a bizarre moralization of player wage and worth. It’s true that player value and wages have ballooned in recent years, but is that wrong when revenue has also exploded? $200,000 per week in salary sounds like a lot — and, of course, it is relative to the average person — but it’s not compared to the millions pulled in by clubs each matchday. Shouldn’t we want the players, the ones creating this entertainment we love so much, to have as big a piece of the pie as possible?
And that’s not to mention the blatant hypocrisy. Those same critics would not hesitate to take a higher-paying job with a higher-profile company in their own line of work. It would be crazy not to.

But even worse, the argument overlooks the fact that players are human beings. Many professional athletes come from meager backgrounds, with the same societal landmines that derail so many low-income families around the world. For many, their athletic prowess is their only ticket out. And for a very select few, that ticket turns out to be a jackpot.

But even for the small percentage that hit the lottery of becoming a professional athlete, success is usually fleeting. The average pro can only hope to play at the top level for a couple of years. And since reaching the highest level means players can’t focus on anything else, most don’t have the skills to make a living after their career ends.

In their brief time at the top, players must accumulate a lifetime of wealth, and hopefully enough to pass on to their children, who will almost certainly not become professional athletes. And even for the best players, ones destined for a decade or more of glory, it can all disappear with one tackle.

One second, Luke Shaw was perhaps the most promising young defender in England. The next, he faces the possibility of being cast from that level forever. And it wasn’t because he lost focus or stopped training with the same tenacity due to his paycheck. It wasn’t because a move stunted his development, or because of anything else he could control. It was the cruelty of chance – countless micro-decisions over the course of the game that just happened to leave him at that exact spot on the field at the wrong time.

SEE MORE: As United’s debt grows, revenues expected to exceed £500 million.

This tackle happened on a glamorous Champions League night in front of millions of viewers. But it just as easily could’ve happened in a cup game with Southampton, or even during a training session. In fact, it happens practically every day. Promising youngsters are a dime a dozen, but many are derailed by one bad tackle.

Luke Shaw was able to navigate those obstacles to make it to the big time, and now he could be out of it. And if he is never able to recover to the level he is now — if he’s an Eduardo da Silva instead of an Aaron Ramsey — the voices that claimed “he has plenty of time to develop, he needs to refuse the pay raise and pay back the team that made him” will be as cruel as the tackle that crippled him.

So, for the sake of his family, thank goodness he took that contract. For the sake of all the youngsters who didn’t make it, thank goodness he took that contract. And hopefully, we as a fanbase will remember this the next time a young player is linked to a payday they deserve.

There was a moment in Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League opener against Juventus Tuesday when everything seemed to change. Paul Pogba’s inch-perfect pass had just leveled the score after Vincent Kompany’s bulbous forehead had thumped the home side in front. But when a tweak of the calf muscle sent Manchester City’s captain off the field for an early shower, it happened – a subtle yet visible tensing-up from the home team; a grim, familiar fog of doubt creeping into the minds of the players in sky blue. And sure enough, the eerily inevitable winner finally came from an unstoppable left-footed strike Álvaro Morata.

It’s the latest chapter of Manchester City’s well-documented struggles in Europe, but they weren’t alone. Louis Van Gaal and Memphis Depay’s return to Dutch football couldn’t push Manchester United past a well-drilled PSV Eindhoven, and Arsenal never looked like they would win against Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb. Only Chelsea, who put four goals past lowly Maccabi Tel Aviv, was able to bring any points home for the Premier League after the first matchday of this year’s Champion’s League.

ENGLAND’S WOES: Zagreb upsets Arsenal | City fall to Juve | PSV comeback vs. United | Chelsea saving grace

One could call this just a bad week, but consider the trend: English clubs have won only two Champions League trophies in the past decade. Two out of the past three seasons, the Premier League has failed to produce a single quarterfinalist. Arsenal, despite its impressive streak of 18 straight Champions League appearances, has only made the final once in that stretch. Manchester City, albeit with a smaller sample size, has never made it past the Round of 16.

There is plenty of time to turn things around for this year. All three English clubs who lost this week have a great chance of advancing to the knockout rounds, perhaps even as the top seed. But it’s growing increasingly important they do. If they don’t, the implications are severe.

Champions League spots are awarded based on a coefficient calculated by the last five years of a league’s European success, with only the top three nations receiving four berths in Europe’s competition. That means results from 2010-11 — when all four English clubs qualified for the knockout round, and Manchester United made it to the final — will be wiped after this year. Combine that with last year’s aforementioned failures, and England’s coefficient score has taken a big hit. With Italy now creeping closer, another disastrous season for the Premier League’s best could mean one less spot in Europe come 2016-17 (next season’s spots are already locked in). No more top four; now only a top-three finish will punch your ticket to European competition.

SEE MORE: What happened to the top of the Premier League?

With the stakes at their highest in recent history, English clubs need to pick themselves up and rescue what is still a salvageable European season. But that can only come by answering one question: why are they falling short against the cream of the European crop?

There is an argument that the Premier League’s obsession with physical attributes over technical ability is letting them down. Notable in this regard was Juan Cuadrado, who shined against Manchester City despite his inability to break into Chelsea’s team last year. Other Premier League castoffs like Angel Di Maria (from Manchester United) and Andre Schürrle (also from Chelsea) have proven to be valuable assets in Europe, as well.

But there was a telling quote Tuesday that perfectly encapsulated the root of Premier League’s European malaise. It came from Patrice Evra, the Juventus left back who spent much of his career in England. In an interview with L’Equipe, he praised Manchester City as the class of England but added a critical caveat:

“The Premier League is the most interesting championship to watch, but it is tactically limited.”

That tactical naivete was on full display on Tuesday. Yaya Toure and Fernandinho dominated the number of touches in the midfield, but it was a slow, plodding possession. Not that they didn’t want to speed up the play — Raheem Sterling’s pace has turned their attack into a fearsome weapon in the league — they just clearly didn’t know how to do it. Even the magical David Silva poked, prodded and probed, but he couldn’t crack the code that was Juventus’s defense. And when the Italians clogged up City’s usual pattern of play, there was no alternative. Indeed it was Juventus who always had another option, another tactical wrinkle to break up Manchester City’s play and push themselves forward in attack.

SEE MORE: England’s in danger of losing its fourth Champions League spot.

This manifests itself on both sides of the ball. Arsenal’s lack of tactical flexibility left their defense completely exposed. Opta stats show the Gunners gave up as many big chances against Dinamo Zagreb as they have in their last five league matches combined. And while Manchester United and Manchester City edged out their opponents in advanced metrics, they weren’t dominant or clinical enough to complain about their defeats. Meanwhile, teams they aim to compete with, like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, put their opponents to the sword while conceding much fewer big chances on defense.

Winning in the present-day Premier League requires an entirely different style of play to European competition. English soccer is about overpowering and dominating your opponent, continental soccer is about outsmarting them. In Europe, physical attributes are a bonus, not the focus. If Premier League teams can catch up tactically, their physical skills can help propel them to the heights we’re used to seeing them. If not, they’ll continue to look clumsy, outdated, and — at least at the highest levels — irrelevant.

The blame for that is spread among many factors, and it can be fixed with different personnel, a different philosophy or both. But the inescapable fact remains: Premier League clubs need to come to grips with the tactical challenges of European competition, and they need to do it soon.

If they can’t, they’ll not only be letting themselves down now, they’ll be restricting their chance for European success even more later. And that future may be closer than they or their fans realize.

Let’s put it bluntly: Last week was a rough one for the US men’s national team. Another round of international fixtures came and went, with disappointing results only topped by baffling managerial decisions. These were friendly games, which are the right time to be experimenting, so perspective is needed. But an off-and-on performance against Peru and a 4-1 pasting by Brazil soil has led to renewed calls for coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s job and an overarching concern about the progress of the team leading up to the crucial Confederations Cup qualifier against Mexico next month.

U.S. SWOON: Peru win | Brazil loss | Tough to watch | Failure, all around

There will be thousands of words typed, tweeted and shouted about the State of US Soccer and Jurgen Klinsmann’s position atop it. And there should be. But let’s brighten the mood a little bit with some good news: there’s a young American turning heads across the pond, and it may not be someone you’ve heard much about.

When American soccer fans think about our young talents honing their skills abroad, there are a few names that come to mind. There’s the enigmatic savior of our midfield, Arsenal starlet Gedion Zelalem, who occasionally graces social media with some exquisite touch or pass (he’s still doing just that to rave reviews from his new fans at his loan team, Rangers). You may think of Fulham’s Emerson Hyndman, who’s already made an appearance for the senior national team, or the electric Deandre Yedlin, who turned into one of the breakout players of last summer’s World Cup.

But it’s Yedlin’s current teammate, Lynden Gooch (no, not that Gooch) that made headlines last week. He was named the Barclays Under-21 Player of the Month for the month of August on Friday, becoming only the second American to claim the honor. And it’s easy to see why: he scored goals in each of his first three league matches for the Sunderland reserves, and added an assist to top it off. He was rewarded with a 30-minute cameo in the Black Cats senior team in the Capital One Cup win over Exeter. While Exeter’s not exactly Champions League quality, Gooch impressed so much in the 6-3 victory that he was named in the senior squad for a Premier League game just a few days later.

Gooch told Sunderland’s website:

“I’ve had a great start; last season was frustrating for me because I had a few injuries so it was important to get off to a good start this year, and I came back really fit for preseason which I think has really paid off.”

That return to fitness came in a a rollercoaster summer for the Santa Cruz, Calif., native. The 19-year-old was left off of Tab Ramos’s roster for this summer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand but then appeared four times for the U-20’s in the CONCACAF Championship in Jamaica.

He’s since turned into one of Sunderland’s star youngsters, providing a dynamic outlet on the wing for their U-21s with the versatility to play as a forward or across the midfield. Sunderland’s professional development director, Kevin Ball, called him one of the most technically gifted players in the youth squad. It’s his creativity from the wing combined with his impressive physicality on the field that has Sunderland fans salivating after a dull start to their senior team’s Premier League journey.

It’s important to note that he is not the finished product. Gooch is not ready to be a consistent player for the national team, and still has to prove his quality to get starts for Sunderland. But if the start to this season is any indicator, we could see another American plying his trade in the Premier League sooner than later.

There is a catch: Jurgen Klinsmann needs to recognize this talent and give him some playing time soon, or he may lose him. Despite being born in California and being capped by the US at junior level, Gooch has close ties to England. His father is from there, he’s spent much of his time there since his early teens, and he has both UK and Irish passports. That means he can still apply to switch national status to either of those teams until he makes an appearance for the US senior team in an official competition. He’s caught the eye of several of European’s big names before, having tried out for AC Milan and Everton in the past. One can hope that Klinsmann’s affinity for talent playing abroad will force him to take notice of this talent budding in northeast England.

So if last week’s friendlies have you concerned about the future of the US Men’s National team, remember: the kids are alright. With Zelalem, Hyndman and Tottenham’s rising defensive star Cameron Carter-Vickers all tipped for upcoming first-team success, it seems the Americans have a solid foundation upon which they can build. And in Lynden Gooch, they could have a special, dynamic talent to lead the line for the next generation of American stars for years to come.

“When I was your age, I could go see a movie for a nickel.”

It’s a cliché, but my grandmother still said it, and I know she’s not the only one. I would roll my eyes, tune her out and take another Werther’s Original out of her seemingly never-ending pile. But it’s an understandable sentiment, a yearning for a vague but comfortable “simpler time” when everything was the way it used to be. Nowadays, movie tickets go for $15 a pop.

That same sentiment has become a recurrent narrative every summer in the soccer world, particularly in the Premier League. Raheem Sterling for £49 million? That used to buy you Zidane. Ten years ago, you could get Ronaldinho for £35 mill; now you get Christian Benteke.

SEE MORE: Up-to-the-minute transfer deadline deals.

It’s a vague disappointment in how soccer – maybe the world – has changed. Last year, Chelsea “bought” the title, and now Manchester City is accused of doing it again.  Now Arsene Wenger has joined the chorus, claiming Arsenal can’t keep up with the Premier League’s big spenders.

But Arsene’s words come off as a hollow excuse. Like the price of a movie ticket, the world has changed and the stakes have grown. It may have been accelerated by the high-spenders, but it’s an era that would have come without them. And it’s benefiting teams like Arsenal too.

The worldwide ubiquity of the Premier League means teams received between £64 and £99 million from broadcast rights alone this summer (there’s a separate question about whether the league would be as popular — and thus, as lucrative — without these big-spending newcomers increasing competition at the top, but that’s for a different article). Next summer that payment will go up £50 million more, pushing teams’ broadcasting windfall to more than double what it was back in the early 2000’s. Combine that with nine-figure sponsorship deals and shouldn’t we expect teams to be spending drastically more? If revenue is spiking and teams aren’t spending, shouldn’t questions be aimed at their ownership, not Manchester City’s?

Newcomer Kevin De Bruyne pushed City’s spending this transfer window to about £150 million, and after sales, to a net spend of about £100 million. We could say that City is buying the league, or we could say £100 million is about the going rate these days for a pretty significant overhaul of what was the oldest squad in the Premier League. The teams they’re aspiring to compete with, the Barcelonas and Real Madrids of the world, are spending that kind of money all the time. Especially now, as Everton have so far proven with John Stones, other teams have enough money to resist big-money offers.

There’s no denying that financial backing has contributed significantly to the success of teams like Chelsea and Manchester City. And there’s no legitimate argument that even mid-table teams like Swansea will be winning the Premier League anytime soon. But there are plenty of options outside of the £50 million bracket that could improve teams in the top six to the point of challenging for the title. City’s added backing may have put their four targets out of Arsene’s reach, but was there no one else in world soccer that could address the problems in Arsenal’s squad with £100 million to spend?

We also know from experience that big spending is not the only way to win. Several European teams are using this new age of spending to their advantage; most notably Atletico Madrid, who continue to sell off superstars only to improve year after year because of smart scouting and development. You could argue that massive funding injection helped them build a deeper, more complete team. Juventus made it to the Champions League final last year with a fraction of the spending of most English teams. And in the Premier League, Swansea signing both Andre Ayew and Bafetembi Gomis on free transfers turned them from a solid base to a possible Europa League contender. Leaning too much on the excuse of financial inferiority is a concession about the quality of your scouting, coaching or both.

SEE MORE: ESPN FC to deliver expansive Transfer Deadline Day coverage on Tuesday.

Consider Manchester United, who were never a serious title threat last year despite massive spending. Or Liverpool, who famously spent most of their Fernando Torres money on Andy Carroll. Accusations of “buying the league” unfairly discredit the achievement of players and managers who have no control over transfer fees. The referee doesn’t give Benteke a head start on a defender because he had a big price tag. City don’t get to play with an extra man. Teams have to earn it.

The goalposts have shifted for everyone in the transfer market. The reality is the scale of money in modern-day soccer is different than it used to be – for everyone. Say it out loud, one time, to get it out of your system: players are more expensive now. That’s not necessarily wrong, either, as more revenue comes in from more people in more parts of the world than ever before. So there will be many players more expensive than Zidane. But if Arsene can’t adapt, he’ll risk sounding like grandma, muttering about how Thierry Henry cost £11 million while the rest of the soccer world rolls their eyes, tunes him out and leaves him behind.