Michael Owen and Glenn Hoddle agreed that the correct call was made to not send off Hakim Ziyech during Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League.
There was a bit of controversy at the end of the first half when Ziyech was shown a straight red card for a push on Emerson Royal – only for it to be overturned.
Stuart Attwell was the on-field referee, and after being sent a message via VAR, his initial call was to show Ziyech a straight red – that’s after handing out yellow cards to other players.
But that’s when the Chelsea forward, who was subbed off in the second half, was told to hold fire, with the on-field official looking at the incident on the monitor and then changing his call.
To nobody’s surprise, it was all a bit of a mess and it perhaps sums up how VAR has been operating of late.
But, for both Michael Owen and Glenn Hoddle, the correct call was made, even if they had to go the long way around, as they told Premier League Productions (25/02/23 at 2:30 pm).
“Richarlison gets fouled by Ziyech and there are a little bit of handbags there,” said Owen. “After that, that’s the main thing, the shove and the push on the arm of Emerson Royal. The hand actually bounces off his arm and catches him in the face.
“From that angle, I think ‘oooh, this could be red’. From this angle, yellow is probably the right decision. A whole load of confusion because the referee jumps the gun with the red card, then changes it. A bit of a mess, but I do think they got to the right decision.”
Hoddle added: “That has to happen before he gives the red (go and look at the monitor first). He has put himself in a corner there. I agree, I think it’s a yellow card, not a red card. I really do.
“It’s a shame for the ref now. He is under immense pressure. You see all the Spurs players, and the fans every time Ziyech gets the ball now. The fans will be up. He has put himself under pressure. He was giving yellows out, so he had time.”
TOTTENHAM MOUNT PRESSURE ON POTTER
Tottenham’s record against Chelsea over the years isn’t great, even during the West London club’s time of struggle.
But this is different. With pressure already on Graham Potter, all of this just takes it up a few levels.
Todd Boehly spent a lot of money in the summer and in January – record amounts – but that counts for nothing if you’re not winning matches.
Whilst Spurs increased their chances of securing another Champions League finish, Chelsea are amazingly enough looking over their shoulder because they could drop into the bottom half.
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