‘You couldn’t’: Jermain Defoe blasts actions of £40m Liverpool player towards Tottenham man

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Jermain Defoe slammed Diogo Jota for his sending-off during Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

A game full of drama, big calls, controversial decisions, sending-offs, offside goals and a stoppage-time winner.

It was your typical Premier League clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Jurgen Klopp watching his Liverpool side go down to nine men during the game, including half-time substitute Diogo Jota receiving two yellow cards.

Former Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe ‘couldn’t understand’ what the Liverpool forward was doing when he picked up his second yellow card as he brought down Tottenham left-back, Destiny Udogie, as he told Premier League Productions (30/09/23 at 7:55 pm).

Given that the Reds were already down to ten men, and at the time, the scores were still 1-1, then Defoe couldn’t understand Diogo Jota’s actions.

But, of course, Liverpool fans will point towards the first yellow their £40 million player (Sky Sports) picked up and how Destiny Udogie tripped over himself, but it was the Portugal international who was booked.

Diogo Jota’s sending-off

“If a young player did that, even then you would be thinking ‘just keep your head. You are on a yellow card. Don’t do anything silly to let your teammates down’,” said Defoe.

“You just couldn’t understand why. You lose the ball there. Don’t go to ground if you are on a yellow card, especially when you are down to ten.

“After that, you thought ‘Tottenham would get another chance’ and they did, which led to the three points.”

Liverpool hit with a sucker punch

From Luis Diaz’s ‘offside’ goal to being down to nine men, for all intents and purposes, it looked like Jurgen Klopp’s side were going to walk away with a deserved point.

But in stoppage-time, they were hit with a sucker punch when Joel Matip put the ball into the back of his own net.

The Liverpool players, including goalkeeper Alisson Becker, tried to console their teammate, as Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the new campaign.