‘Not heard anyone say it’ – Kane responds to criticism around Doucoure red card incident

Harry Kane has pointed out that none of the pundits, who have criticised him for going to ground for the Abdoulaye Doucoure red card incident, have suggested that the Everton midfielder did not deserve to be sent off.

The incident occurred in the 56th minute of last Monday’s tie at Goodison Park, with Doucoure shoving Kane in the face after the pair got into an altercation.

The Tottenham man went to ground holding his face, with referee David Coote having no choice but to show a straight red to the Everton midfielder.

Kane has come in for plenty of criticism for making the most of the incident, with Danny Murphy telling talkSPORT last week that the striker ’embarrassed himself’ with the way he acted.

The England captain also came in for criticism from Jamie Carragher, who said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football (as relayed by The Daily Mail) that he would not accept it if he saw his son go down theatrically in a similar manner on the football pitch.

When asked if he had been affected by the criticism, Kane has now told The Evening Standard: “I’m good.

“I’ve not heard anyone say it was not a red card. At the end of the day that’s football, that’s the way it goes and people have their opinions.

“My focus was on trying to help the team in this game and that’s what I did.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

Perhaps the reason Kane has attracted more criticism than other players would have if they had acted similarly, is perhaps because the Tottenham man is held to a higher standard as England’s captain.

However, the way I see it, he had no choice but to go down as there is a very real chance that Doucoure would have escaped with a yellow card had he stayed on his feet.