‘I don’t understand’: Dean Smith makes claim about Tottenham’s bench after Aston Villa clash

Follow us on Google Discover

Tottenham Hotspur scored a stoppage-time winner against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Dean Smith has claimed that even the Tottenham Hotspur bench knew that Bjorn Engels tackle on Steven Bergwijn wasn’t a penalty as the North London club secured a 3-2 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands, the Villa boss stated that he simply ‘doesn’t understand’ how Spurs were awarded a spot-kick, as he claimed everyone in the stadium didn’t think VAR made the right call. 

“They gave a penalty against him [Engels] which I don’t understand,” Smith told Radio WM. “You have got a system in place, VAR, 42,000 people in the stadium, four officials, our bench and their bench. And nobody thinks it’s a penalty. 

“For two minutes, somebody is looking to give the penalty and gives one. The criteria I was told at the start of the season was clear and obvious. If you are looking at that for two minutes, it’s not clear and obvious. 

“A dreadful decision, they would probably say it was right because there was contact before and put their stats up to 98% [correct decisions] as they normally do. But, nah, not for me.”

The game was level when Spurs were awarded the spot-kick after consultation with VAR, with Villa perhaps being the better side up until that point. 

Son Heung-Min initially saw his penalty saved by Pepe Reina, but the versatile attacker was quick to pounce on the rebound and put his team ahead.

It was a very open game at Villa Park, with Toby Alderweireld converting into the back of his own net to give the hosts the lead before he put the ball into the correct net and levelled the scores from a corner shortly afterwards.

That’s when the penalty incident occurred and Spurs took the lead. Engels, who has earlier given away the penalty, then headed home to make it 2-2 in a game that could have headed into either direction. 

But right at the death, Engels made a horrific mistake which was punished by Son as Jose Mourinho’s side walked away with all three points.