Thomas Frank has shed light on whether Tottenham Hotspur can and will appeal Xavi Simons’ red card against Liverpool.
There was little between the two teams for the first 30 minutes on Sunday, but things changed when Xavi got his marching orders for a poor challenge on Virgil van Dijk.
The Dutchman was initially shown a yellow card for the challenge, but the referee changed it to a red after VAR asked him to re-watch the incident on the touchline monitor.
That was far from the only controversial decision in the game, with Hugo Etikite appearing to push Cristian Romero in the back before heading home Liverpool’s second, and the Tottenham captain being sent off in stoppage time.
Thomas Frank admits Tottenham probably cannot appeal Xavi Simons’ red card
Frank stated that he has seen plenty of challenges like the one Xavi made on Van Dijk and suggested that a straight red card was harsh.
The Tottenham head coach is not too pleased that one such challenge results in a three-match suspension, but conceded that the club probably cannot appeal the red card since the tackle was reviewed by the official following VAR’s intervention.
Frank told Football.London: “The first red which I have seen before, I also said before definitely a few times at Brentford, and I have seen others, I don’t like this as a red card.
“I think the game is, probably too big to say gone, but for me it’s not reckless and it’s not exceptional force. He is chasing Van Dijk. He is trying to put pressure and then he changes direction. Unfortunately, his foot is on (Van Dijk’s) Achilles.
“You can say ‘ah, you need to be smarter, don’t do it and all that’ but so are we not allowed to have physical contact anymore? The next thing on that is if he gets three games, which I don’t understand, how can he get three games for something which is not reckless? That is absolutely wrong and we probably can’t appeal it.”
Spurs can take heart from their performance against Liverpool
Despite having several decisions go against them and playing with a numerical disadvantage for the majority of the game, the Tottenham players battled on bravely.
The home side could have easily nicked a point at the end, which they would have anyway if Etikite’s goal had been correctly ruled out.
The Lilywhites can thus take some heart from the performance, but the worry for Frank will be the suspensions of Romero and Xavi.