Joey Barton has claimed on Twitter that Andy Robertson did not deserve to be sent off for his challenge in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham.
The Liverpool left-back was shown a red card on 77 minutes following a reckless challenge on Emerson Royal moments after Tottenham levelled the match through Heung-min Son.
The Scotland international was initially shown a yellow by referee Paul Tierney, before a decision to upgrade the card was made after consulting the pitch-side VAR monitor.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp cut a frustrated figure at full-time and told Tierney he only has a problem with him and was incensed with some of the officiating against his side during the encounter in North London.
However, the decision to issue Robertson a red card has not sat well with former Newcastle and Manchester City midfielder Barton either, who believes it was ‘just a tackle’ and wasn’t worthy of a sending off.
Never a red for Roberson. The games gone. No endangerment of opposition player. Just a tackle.
— 👑 Joey Barton 👑 (@Joey7Barton) December 19, 2021
Spurs Web Opinion
It isn’t surprising that Barton, a notoriously rough player in his playing days, believes Robertson didn’t deserve to be shown a red card on Sunday.
The fact is he was reckless in his challenge and kicked Emerson at full force, so that didn’t exactly give the referee much choice.