Pundit urges FA to retrospectively punish ‘out of control’ Tottenham star for Liverpool incident

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Former Chelsea centre-back Frank Leboeuf believes one senior Tottenham star was completely out of line for what he did during the club’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Saturday.

The game on Saturday was not short of controversial incidents and drama, which has often been the case when Liverpool have come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium over recent years.

Thomas Frank believes that the referee got all three of his big decisions wrong, suggesting that the red cards to Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons were harsh and that Liverpool’s second goal should have been disallowed.

However, a pundit has now highlighted another controversial incident that had been ignored by the referee during the game.

Calls for Tottenham centre-back to be punished for a dangerous tackle

Frank Leboeuf believes that Micky van de Ven should not escape unpunished for his tackle on Alexander Isak during Liverpool’s opening goal.

The Tottenham centre-back slid in to block the shot, but his momentum meant that he made contact with the Reds star, with Isak having to be taken off as a result, and now suspected to have suffered a broken leg.

Lebouff told ESPN FC: “I love the way Micky van de Ven is behaving and the way he plays football, and I love the player, but he has to be punished. I’m sorry, you cannot get out of that when you broke the leg of somebody. You take a chance, you’re a defender. I was a defender and never injured any player.

“You can tackle, you can be hard, but you have to know and be in control of what you do. And, I’m sorry, in that manner, and the result says a lot, Van de Ven was not in control. And for me, that’s maybe unfortunate, but something has to come out. He cannot again be released with nothing after that tackle.”

Punishing Micky van de Ven’s challenge will set a dangerous precedent

The Tottenham centre-back was not even trying to tackle Isak and had every right to fling himself across him in an attempt to block the ball.

Unfortunately, the momentum meant that there was a collision with the Liverpool striker, who now potentially faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

One cannot retrospectively just tackle based on the severity of the injury, and it was clear that the Tottenham centre-back had no intention of making contact with the Swede.