Tottenham Hotspur moved into the Premier League’s top-four on Saturday, and they will now turn their attention to their Champions League clash against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
Charlie Nicholas has expressed his confusion as to why the Tottenham players were arguing ‘non-stop’ with the referee against Southampton on Saturday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side, who were reduced to 10 men in the first half, recorded a much-needed three points against the Saints, with Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane getting on the scoresheet.
From a referee’s point of view, the biggest talking would have been Serge Aurier’s two yellow cards in the space of four minutes – the second was perhaps a little soft.
Nonetheless, speaking to Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (28/09/2019 at 5:15 pm), Nicholas touched upon Spurs players constantly arguing with the referee as he believes decisions were actually going against the away side.
“It’s a big win for him [Mauricio Pochettino],” Nicholas told Soccer Saturday. “It sends them back into the top-six, and with so many teams now sitting on 11 points, one or two bad results and you are suddenly right out of the frame.
“It’s not for the title, it’s just for the top-six and top-four that you are threatening here. It was a massive win and they got through it.
“One thing about Spurs, they argued non-stop with the referee. Kept at him and at him. Danny Rose, two minutes worth where he kept asking him questions and questioning his decision-making. And I don’t quite know where they got that from because at times they were a bit fortunate and they probably got away with certain situations. In fact, I thought once the red card came the way of Aurier that Southampton didn’t get some of the free-kicks they should have.”
Aurier’s first yellow card was a rash challenge and one that he couldn’t argue about, but his second, for pulling Ryan Bertrand was rather soft.
From one point of view, it could be argued that Aurier got the wrong side of his man, and his decision to slightly pull him back then forced the official to make a decision.
Despite that sending off, Pochettino’s side saw off their opponents, with Kane coming to their rescue in his typical clinical manner.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
