Andy Gray has suggested on beIN SPORTS (01/11/20 at 8:15 pm) that Tottenham were lucky with the decisions that went in their favour in the first half following their 2-1 win against Brighton on Sunday evening.
The former Sky Sports pundit thinks Brighton manager Graham Potter would have been ‘really upset’ with the calls made, as Spurs were awarded a penalty and they were denied one at the other end.
Harry Kane scored from the spot-kick to open the scoring, but in the second half, Spurs would have felt they were on the wrong end of a bad call when Tariq Lamptey’s goal stood despite a foul in the build-up.
But Gray felt for Kane’s penalty, he was the one who fouled Adam Lallana, and on the other end, Leandro Trossard should have been awarded a spot-kick of his own after being fouled by Matt Doherty.
“Millions of times [I have done what Kane did to win the penalty],” said Gray. “He’s drawing a foul. Yes, it is [a foul on Lallana] in my opinion. You are making back, you are getting hit and you are going down. Thanks very much, ref.
On Brighton’s penalty shout ( Doherty on Trossard): “Here is my next problem with VAR. That is a penalty. But because he hasn’t given it, I guarantee you, if you called Stockley Park now, they will tell us that they didn’t think, and these are the words that haunt me on a nightly basis, that it wasn’t a clear and obvious error.
“But had he given the penalty then they wouldn’t have overturned it. So, where are we? This was a beautiful way of watching football, it was going to correct all wrong. He [Trossard] doesn’t really [throw himself to the ground]. There is enough in that to stop him getting to the football.
“I think Graham Potter will be really upset with the two big decisions that have gone against his team. Really upset.”
In truth, it wasn’t a great night for on-field referee Graham Scott and both teams could argue that they have their own issues with the decisions that were made on the night.
In the end, Spurs ended up walking away with all three points when Gareth Bale got off the mark on his return to the club, with a glancing header at the near post.
From Spurs’ perspective, they are hoping it’s a sign of things to come and he can add to the dangerous duo of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son as the season progresses.
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