Dermot Gallagher has given his verdict on one of the major talking points from Liverpool’s latest victory.
The Reds’ 2-1 win away to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday could politely be described as tempestuous, with two red cards, some needless behaviour from Richarlison after his goal, and a challenge by Micky van de Ven on Alexander Isak which has left the Swede with a suspected broken leg.
All in all, not much in the way of festive goodwill in north London, and plenty to keep John Brooks and the officials on VAR occupied throughout the evening.
The first dismissal came in the 33rd minute when, having inititally been shown a yellow card, Xavi Simons was sent off for raking his studs down Virgil van Dijk’s calf.
Gallagher: Xavi Simons red card was justified
Gallagher felt that, while the Spurs forward didn’t go into the challenge with any malicious intent, the eventual decision was justified, telling Sky Sports‘ Ref Watch on Monday morning: “I want to make clear that I don’t think Simons has any intention to do this, but he has done it.
“Once you see the replay, you can’t unsee it. When VAR sees that, in modern football, it is always going to be a red card. He’s unlucky, but he is always going to see red. You can’t make challenges like that anymore.”
Jay Bothroyd (who was alongside him) aired a similar view, saying: “By the letter of the law it is a red because he has caught him high on his calf, but there’s no doubt he didn’t mean it. The players didn’t swarm around him; there were no big reactions or arguments.”
Red card for Simons was warranted
While Simons subsequently apologised for his challenge on Van Dijk, it was still a crude and reckless one, and he could have no complaints over Brooks’ decision to upgrade the initial yellow card to a red.
That sort of tackle on the back of a player’s calf is liable to cause serious injury, but thankfully that wasn’t the case here, and we would hope that the Spurs forward will learn from it and refrain from such rashness in the future.
Unfortunately, Isak was rather less fortunate after being brought to ground by Van de Ven, an incident which has left the Liverpool striker facing numerous months on the sidelines and reduced Arne Slot’s available playing pick even further amid several other injuries.
Football is a contact sport and we don’t want to see physicality being taken out of the game, but we also don’t want to see players being ruled out for many months with a serious injury.