Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg believes Harry Kane was extremely lucky not to be given his marching orders following his foul on Andy Roberton in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool.
The clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was an electrifying end-to-end affair and arguably the game of the season so far.
However, the quality of the encounter has been overshadowed by some controversial decisions made by Paul Tierney.
Kane caught Robertson in the first half after flying in for a full-blooded challenge and the Tottenham striker was shown a yellow card for the offence.
Clattenburg insisted it was a nailed-on red card challenge by Kane and hinted that the striker might have got preferential treatment since he is England captain.
He wrote in his column for The Daily Mail: “If Harry Kane’s lunge on Andy Robertson isn’t a red card then I’m not sure what is. The tackle is high, it’s above the ankle, studs are showing and it’s late. It didn’t have a good look to it from any angle.
“Andy Robertson sees the challenge coming from Harry Kane. He knows if he leaves his leg planted then there’s a good chance he’ll be getting stretchered out of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and spending Christmas in a moon boot.
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“By jumping out of the way, Robertson avoids serious damage. Kane gets away with his lunge as referee Paul Tierney shows only a yellow, with VAR Chris Kavanagh deciding it was not a clear and obvious error. I’d have shown Kane red.
“Just because you’re England captain doesn’t mean you have any special leeway to commit bad challenges. I never treated important English internationals any different. No referee should take that into account.”
Roberton then took Emerson Royal out in the second half and replays showed the Liverpool left-back was nowhere near the ball.
After initially showing the Scottish international a yellow, Tierney changed his decision to a red after being asked to rewatch the tackle on the touchline monitor by the VAR.
While Clattenburg admitted Robertson deserved a red, he criticised the inconsistency of VAR, questioning why Tierney was asked to rewatch the tackle from the Liverpool left-back but not Kane.
He wrote on Robertson’s sending off: “It was a fierce game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, full of hot-blooded tackles, and this was a particularly angry challenge by Robertson on Royal.
“It was worthy of a red, but then Kane’s indiscretion earlier in the game was worse. Where’s the consistency?
“How can VAR tell Tierney to go look at this incident but not the one involving Kane?”
Spurs Web Opinion
I agree with Clattenburg that Kane only escaped a red card because Robertson tried to jump out of the way. Had Tierney been asked to rewatch the tackle, Kane would not have escaped a red.
However, the suggestion that Kane’s tackle was worse than Robertson’s, is quite ridiculous. While the Tottenham striker’s tackle was dangerous, he was clearly trying to go for the ball and simply got carried away.
Robertson, on the other hand, had no intention of going for the ball and wanted to leave one on Emerson. Kane deserved a red card but Robertson’s challenge was a lot more cynical.
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