Bryan King doesn’t think West Ham star Mohammed Kudus should have been sent off against Tottenham on Saturday (19 October).
The ex-Spurs scout believes the melee between the Spurs and West Ham players was “ridiculous”.
Kudus was shown a red card after striking Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr in the face as Spurs beat West Ham 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League, a match which left Postecoglou with a “problem” despite the win.
However, King – speaking exclusively to Tottenham News – wasn’t happy with van de Ven’s reaction.
“Flat hands in people’s faces were causing players to go down,” King said.
“It was more of a push than a punch. I don’t think anything during that incident warranted a sending-off. However, once the referee went over to the screen, you sensed a red card would be produced.
“The whole thing was just an overplayed, silly situation. It was ridiculous, and after that kind of contact caused Van de Ven to go down, I was very disappointed with him.”
Micky van de Ven disappoints after Tottenham incident v West Ham
Kudus’ strike to van de Ven and Sarr’s faces might not have had much force behind it. However, you still can’t raise your hand to another player’s face on a football pitch.
Therefore, whether van de Ven made a meal of it or not is largely irrelevant. It could quite easily be argued that he did, with Sarr not going down in the same way as his teammate, despite too being hit in the face.
However, this is modern football and these things happen. As a result, West Ham are unlikely to win any appeal against the decision.
From Spurs’ point of view, they will move on from the situation after a much-needed victory. Attention will now turn toward AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Europa League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday (25 October), with two youth players being backed to start.
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