Player accuses Spurs of premeditated dirty tactics

Wolverhampton Wanderers captain Conor Coady has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur ganged up on Adama Traore.

Coady has suggested that teams are now spreading the risk when it comes to fouling the Wolves winger.

Traore’s pace caused Spurs problems throughout the 2-1 victory at Molineux which saw Harry Kane, Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier all receive yellow cards for respective challenges on the 23-year-old.

The defender has accused Tottenham of dirty pre-planned tactics to help contain the threat of the wide man.

During the current season, 24 different players have been booked after fouling Traore (Express).

Coady revealed that Wolves have already spoken with referees about the frequency of the fouls which are occurring on his team-mate, but officials are powerless since they are mostly yellow card challenges.

He told the Daily Star: “Teams are ganging up on him – it’s one player, then another player. Tottenham were clever in terms of how different players were fouling him but it’s hard from our point of view to keep seeing that happen.

“He’s such a handful. So powerful and quick. He’s been absolutely phenomenal so far this season.

“He’s unstoppable at times. Teams can’t stop him. You saw him out there against world class players.

“Tottenham were spreading things out. That’s what’s disappointing from our point of view. It was obviously something they’ve said and then carried out. It’s hard to take because he beats his man every time.

He added: “We speak to referees every game. They say they can’t do much about it because they are booking them but they’re not red cards.

“But at the same time it’s so frustrating for us because he’s creating so much and when he gets past players to get brought down like that it’s disappointing.

“We speak to them every single game so I can see where they are coming from where it’s not a red card.”

Opinion

While Traore was the subject of some rough treatment, Lucas Moura was also targeted by Wolves during the 90 minutes and also escaped serious injury yet there are no headlines in the press about the Brazilian.