‘Leg breaker’ – Sue Smith blasts referee decision in Everton v Liverpool
Sky Sports pundit Sue Smith believes Virgil Van Dijk should’ve seen red for his “leg breaker” tackle on Amadou Onana during Everton v Liverpool on Saturday.
The Toffees and Liverpool played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at Goodison Park, in a game filled with controversy after a marginally disallowed goal and a potential red card for Van Dijk.
But the referee opted to only show a yellow card despite a shin high tackle and while Dermot Gallagher believes it was the right decision, former England international Smith thinks it should’ve been a red card while speaking live on Sky Sports News [5 September].
“I think this one is a red,” she said.
“Only because I feel where the impact is, where he connects with him, it’s high. I also think that Schar one he was going down, this one is going in.
“That one is a leg breaker. When I saw that I thought it has to be a red card.
“I don’t think there’s any malice in it, I think it’s just bad timing. But where he connects with him, I thin he’s really lucky not to get a red card.”
Finally
It seems as though everyone was rearing red-tinted glasses on Saturday, because how this isn’t being looked at as a clear-cut red card is beyond us.
He goes in hard on the shin and then drags his studs down and plants it on the top of his foot and ankle without getting anywhere near the ball at all.
Nobody is saying it was intentional or malicious, but it’s an awful attempt at a tackle and deserved a red card, which would’ve given Everton a huge opportunity to claim all three points on the day and their first win of the season.
Decisions have been going against us for a while now and it seems to be less and less of a coincidence that they keep happening against the top sides in the league.
It’s a clear red card tackle and while there is obviously nothing that can be done about it now, the media need to do a better job of being fair and making it clear that we were hard done by on the day.