Tottenham Hotspur defender Emerson Royal has been torn into on Sky Sports News following his involvement in the big VAR talking point on Sunday.
Why wasn’t Hakim Ziyech sent off?
The main talking point of the London derby on Sunday was the mess created towards the end of the first half by the officials in deciding whether or not Hakim Ziyech would be sent off.
Stuart Attwell showed the Moroccan a red card after minutes of deliberation following the forward’s push on Emerson which caught the Brazilian in the face.
However, the red card was then taken back by Attwell just seconds after he delivered it following a review on the VAR monitor.
Having agreed with the referee’s final decision, Steven Warnock has slammed Emerson for exaggerating the push from Ziyech when speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch:
(7:30) “I thought was embarrassing from Emerson Royal. I was so angry when I saw it because I’m thinking you’re on VAR now everyone can see what you’re doing. To go down off that.. so he instigates the whole thing by running in banging into the back of Ziyech if it was the other way around and Ziyech had run in and done that on Royal, he’d have hit the deck.”
“And the way he hit the deck I’m thinking what are you trying to instigate? Like why would you even try and do that? I thought it was pathetic from Emerson Royal.
“I was made up it got overturned because straightaway I thought you’ve tried to kid on the ref here, but everyone can see it’s so obvious. I was furious. I cannot stand when players do that.”
Should Ziyech have been sent off?
Ziyech was in the middle of the controversy having been involved in the foul leading up to the pushing which saw him hit with a yellow card.
However, it was Kai Havertz who received a warning for the foul with the German the first player to foul Richarlison before Ziyech took him to the ground.
But there will still be controversy as to whether Ziyech’s red card should have been rescinded by the referee with his push catching Emerson in the face.
There is no doubt the push did not have the force to send Emerson to the ground, however, it was apparent the Brazilian was emphasising the fact he’d been caught by a raised hand.
What saved Ziyech is that his push was seemingly destined for Emerson’s upper body before being deflected up into his face.
A lot of Spurs fans may accept this, but the time it took for Attwell to come to his final verdict is something which will surely frustrate fans across the league.
And whether or not there was enough in the push from Ziyech to send Emerson to the ground, it is apparent the Spurs man was wanting the officials to know that Ziyech had raised his hand to him.
Although Warnock was clearly not impressed with Emerson’s involvement, everyone at Spurs will have been delighted by his latest display in the starting XI.
Throughout the game, Emerson won 13 duels, recorded seven tackles and was able to recover the ball on nine occasions.
This is a far cry from the player who was being booed onto the pitch by his own fans just a matter of months ago.
