Glenn Hoddle was left fuming at the call to send off Cristian Romero in a chaotic and drama-filled London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea on Monday night.
This one is for the Hall of Fame because it was an epic Premier League showdown of the highest proportions, with Mauricio Pochettino, upon his return to Tottenham, securing a much-needed 4-1 win for Chelsea.
It all started well for Spurs when Dejan Kulusevski opened the scoring with a deflected effort early in the first half, but it quickly changed beyond the worst nightmares of the home supporters.
The nightmare began with Cristian Romero’s dangerous tackle on Enzo Fernandez inside the penalty area, which VAR looked at, along with on-field referee Michael Oliver, who decided to send the Tottenham man off and award Chelsea a penalty.
Joe Cole and Michael Owen felt that the right call was made, but Glenn Hoddle was fuming and was adamant that it was only a ‘booking’, as he felt, ‘for the sake of football’, Cristian Romero should have stayed on the field, as he told Premier League Productions (06/11/23 at 9:05 pm).
There’s no doubt that the World Cup winner got part of the ball, but he was also high in his tackle and some would think it was unnecessary force, with Glenn Hoddle disagreeing with the majority.
Cristian Romero’s red card
“My initial thought is that I didn’t notice the tackle,” said Joe Cole. “But, ultimately, it’s reckless, he has followed through and he has endangered him, so he has to give him a red card. It’s in the penalty box and he has to give a penalty. I don’t like it.”
Hoddle then shared his thoughts: “I disagree. Not because it’s Tottenham, but for the sake of football. He has actually won the ball. He is clearing the ball. If he hit the top of the ball and he missed the ball completely, then caught the player. I understand the red. But that is a booking. Where can you follow through? You can’t go anywhere else?”
Micheal Owen labelled Romero’s tackle as ‘dangerous’ and claimed that he ‘done him’ to which Hoddle responded: “If he is going to do him, then he would be off on a stretcher. I am telling you now! His intent is to hit the ball and he has hit the ball. His follow-through caught the player. It’s not a red. If that’s in the middle of the pitch, in the centre circle. Do you think he would have got a red card for that?
The former England striker responds ‘yes, I do’ and Hoddle added: “Do you?! You think?!”
Everything goes wrong for Tottenham
Romero was sent off and is now suspended. Destiny Udogie was sent off and is also suspended. Micky van de Ven was injured and out for possibly ‘months’ with a hamstring injury. James Maddison also going off injured.
Everything and anything that was going wrong for Spurs did in a night to well and truly forget for Ange Postecoglou.
That was also Spurs’ first defeat of the season, as they remain in the Champions League places, but only have a small window to recover ahead of their clash against Wolves on Saturday lunchtime.
There is every chance that Tottenham line up with Pedro Porro, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier and Ben Davies as their back four.
Welcome to Tottenham, Ange Postecoglou!
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