It was dangerous and stupid. Red would have been harsh, and in the end he didn't really touch the Southampton player (which doesn't change the nature of the tackle).
Yes the looking forward to it (and I'm feeling it too) is more a combination of withdrawal and false sense of hope.
I'm sure once this team has played a couple of games, dread will be back completely.
Which makes the whole "square pegs in square holes" speech by McClaren a little unnerving. Even with a manager with the best of intentions, the way we go about there won't be enough square holes.