Danny Murphy has said that while Abdoulaye Doucoure deserved a red card for shoving Harry Kane in the face, the Tottenham man ’embarrassed himself’ by going down in the manner that he did.
Doucoure got a straight red card on 56 minutes after the Everton man raised his hand to Kane’s face, with the England captain hitting the deck to bring the incident to the referee’s attention.
As one would expect, the 29-year-old was continuously jeered by the Goodison Park faithful for his role in the incident, and some fans on social media have blasted the striker for going down too easy (Daily Star).
Murphy has now joined that bandwagon, insisting that Spurs star did not need to go down like he was punched in the face.
The pundit told talkSPORT about the incident: “Not enough to send him on the floor, Kane’s embarrassing himself.
“Why’s he gone over like that stitching someone up? Doucoure would’ve been sent off anyway.
“A little flick to the face does not send you the ground like you’ve just been punched… but Doucoure’s an idiot. He knows the rules, he’s let his team down.
“For Kane to go down like this is embarrassing… if my kids played like that I’d apologise and probably need to sit in a dark room with a cold flannel on my face.”
However, Jason Cundy disagreed with Murphy’s assessment, insisting that Kane was well within his rights to go down and that the criticism should be levelled at Doucoure.
The former Chelsea man said: “I’m no Spurs fan, but let me tell you any Everton fan that phones here wanting to have a pop at Kane, make sure you point your finger in the right direction first and have a pop at Doucoure.
“Whatever you think Kane did after that, Doucoure – idiot! You raise your arm, you put your fist or your hand or palm in a player’s face they’re going to go down.
“Kane, as far as I’m concerned, has done nothing wrong.
“That’s what 99 per cent of what other footballers would do, ‘Can I gain a numerical advantage over him being an idiot?’
“He’s brought it to the referee’s attention, that’s all he’s done… Doucoure’s the idiot, highlight him being an idiot.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If Murphy agrees that Doucoure deserved a red card, then I do not see the logic in him accusing Kane of ‘stitching’ up the Everton midfielder.
Most players these days go down when they have been caught in the face to bring the incident to the referee’s attention.
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