Tottenham were beaten 3-0 by Nottingham Forest.
Many Lilywhites supporters were expecting some sort of change of performances at Hotspur Way in last weekend’s six-pointer against Nottingham Forest, but the woes under Igor Tudor continued at N17 as the visitors put three (3) past Vicario to take all three points from North London.
It was yet another frustrating game to watch from the stands, but to add to the frustration was the referee’s decision that came into the spotlight in the aftermath of the game.
Hackett calls out Michael Oliver for his mistake in Tottenham vs Nottingham
While it was not officiating per se that ended up costing Tottenham the game, those two challenges from Ibrahim Sangare do add to how Spurs fans felt at the final whistle.
The Forest midfielder was in the midst of chaos in the first half when he lunged into Djed Spence, and then he followed that up with what was quite a heavy challenge on Archie Gray. You could see the Leeds United academy graduate midfielder was struggling to shake that challenge off. And both of those incidents went unpunished by Michael Oliver.
Now former FIFA official Keith Hackett insists that England’s most prestigious referee should have at least shown a yellow card, suggesting that the challenges were reckless and the Forest midfielder should have been cautioned for it.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Tottenham News, he said:
“This was such an untidy phase of play, one in which the referee should have taken firmer action.
“By allowing the first foul to go unpunished, we witnessed a second one that should clearly have been sanctioned with a minimum yellow card.
“So the first one by Sangare stuck a straight leg into his opponent and should have resulted in a yellow card. The challenge was reckless.
“Then there was the second challenge where both men can perhaps consider themselves fortunate.”
Author Opinion
Even with those lapses from Oliver, it was another afternoon at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that ended up frustrating supporters purely on performance. The Lilywhites conceded three against their fellow relegation rivals, and you could see how Tudor’s side were not only outworked and outthought but also outplayed when it mattered.
It was the goals from Igor Jesus, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Taiwo Awoniyi that defined the night for the visitors.
For Tottenham, it was possession without purpose, and those defensive problems again ended up at the top of the pile (in terms of what led to Spurs’ defeat).
While that Sangare incident will be debated among the fans, there were a few decisions that did not go Tottenham’s way. But neither of that led to the Lilywhites conceding a goal. Given how they conceded three at home in a relegation six-pointer, it is something that starts raising questions about the head coach’s credentials.
It is easy to point fingers at the referee in these situations, but Tottenham need to come out of this slump somehow, or that beautiful stadium will find itself hosting Championship games when next season comes around.