Former Tottenham striker Jermaine Defoe insists Diogo Jota let his Liverpool teammates down with his action for the second yellow.
The fallout from the refereeing decisions at the Tottenham vs Liverpool game have been far-reaching. The PGMOL came under scrutiny once again, this time for a series of error-prone decisions that cost the Merseysiders the result. One such outcome was the dismissal of Diogo Jota.
The issues have escalated to another level, so much so that the refereeing and VAR topics have taken over other discussions. It was a weekend of high drama in the Premier League, with Manchester City’s loss opening up new doors for other title challengers.
For Liverpool, a win over Tottenham would have seen them leapfrog Manchester City to the summit. Still, a combination of errors from the on-field referee Simon Hooper and VAR’s Darren England ensured they finished the weekend in fourth place.
A disallowed Luis Diaz goal, the direct red card for Curtis Jones and the first yellow for Diogo Jota have all come under scrutiny. Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville chastised those calls after the game over at Sky Sports. Now, fellow pundit Jermaine Defoe had his say on another topic that completely escaped the discussions following that game.
The former Tottenham striker on Premier League Productions via The Boot Room has criticised Jota for his display on the field, especially in his role in taking the second yellow. Defoe claimed he let his teammates down and eventually played a role in Spurs getting that extra chance to score, which they did in the end.
Defoe said, “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. 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.”
For all the criticisms that referee Hooper received for the first Jota yellow, which was originally a trip by Destiny Udogie, the Portuguese forward had only himself to blame for the second. He took a nasty approach to losing the ball to the left back and decided to clatter onto him.
The decision of a yellow was right, but in the larger context, the sending-off was not. Liverpool have since released a strong statement, which mentioned the club is looking to ‘explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution’ and also questioned the sporting integrity of those calls.
