Ready to get mad? The Football Association released a statement today about Cuti Romero, formally sanctioning him for “acting improperly” and “failing ot leave the field of play promptly and/or behaving in a confrontational and/or aggressive manner towards the referee” after Romero was sent off in extra time during Spurs’ loss to Liverpool last month. As a result, Romero has been issued an additional one match ban and has been fined £50,000.
So, like, obviously I’m a complete homer and a Spurs fan but this is, to put it bluntly, absolute bullshit. For starters, Cuti never should’ve received the two yellows to get him sent off in the first place, especially after getting shoved in the back on a Liverpool goal and getting a cheap dissent yellow for disagreeing with that call (which was bad). Cuti’s second yellow was for a reaction after getting fouled (with no call) by Ibrahim Konate. The charge of “failure to leave the field of play in a timely manner” is made more ridiculous by the fact that he’s club captain and, hence, the only player apparently allowed to speak to the referee in these kinds of incidents in the first place.
I’m also questioning the FA’s decision making here especially after Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli literally shoved a guy on the ground in last night’s match against Liverpool with no call and no apparent punishment. It feels like this is a sanction given to Romero for his reputation, ignoring pretty much everything that actually happened on the pitch. Romero has already served his one match ban for the two yellow cards; an extra match suspension just feels churlish and draconian.
So yeah, I’m kinda pissed off at this. It’s not initially clear from the statement when Romero would be suspended, but the next FA sanctioned match is this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Aston Villa, so assume he’s out for that match and will be back in time for Spurs’ next Premier League fixture.