Graham Roberts was far from impressed with the way John Brooks officiated Tottenham’s clash against Liverpool on Saturday.
The officiating has become the main talking point after the Spurs’ 2-1 loss to Liverpool, with both Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons getting red cards.
In Simons’ case, John Brooks first gave a yellow card to the Dutchman before changing it to a red after VAR asked him to re-watch his poor challenge on the touchline monitor.
While Romero can have little to complain about his second yellow after kicking out at Ibrahima Konate, his first booking came courtesy of him complaining about being pushed in the back by Hugo Ekiteke when he doubled Liverpool’s lead.
Graham Roberts says referee wanted to be the centre of attention in Tottenham defeat
Thomas Frank has said that Brooks got all three of his big decisions wrong, suggesting that both red cards were harsh and blasting the official for not disallowing Ekitike’s goal.
Roberts has now taken to social media to accuse Brooks of wanting to be the centre of attention, suggesting that he could not wait to pull out his cards.
The former Tottenham captain wrote on X: “Loved being the centre of attention, this ref could not wait to pull out yellow cards and red. Absolute farcical some of the refereeing seen this season in the Premier League again. Even booking coaches on sideline, he couldn’t get enough of it.”
Cristian Romero has let his Spurs teammates down
One can certainly understand why Romero will feel aggrieved, as Liverpool’s second goal should not have stood.
Had the referee made the right decision there, the Tottenham captain would not have got his first booking for complaining.
However, given that he was already on a yellow, it was a brainfade on the centre-back’s part to kick out at Konate, and an experienced player like him should have known better.