‘Lucky’ – Sky pundit & former PL official claim ref got big call wrong in Leeds v Wolves clash
Both Darren Bent and former Premier League referee Mark Halsey claim that Raul Jimenez was lucky not to get sent off for Wolves in their win against Leeds United.
Jimenez kicked out and his studs made contact with Robin Koch late on in the game at Elland Road last night.
However, referee David Coote didn’t give anything and Michael Oliver didn’t ask him to review it on VAR.
The same two officials were embroiled in controversy before the game after not sending off Jordan Pickford in the Merseyside derby on Saturday.
As quoted in the Sun Halsey said, “He [Jimenez] is lucky. Tottenham’s Son Heung- min was sent off for less.”
Talking on The Football Show (Sky Sports, Tuesday, 10am), pundit Darren Bent repeated what Haley said.
“By the letter of the law, he’s a lucky boy,” Bent said.
“We’ve seen people getting sent off for less. I go back to Son, who kicked his leg in the air and he was sent off.”
Red wouldn’t have changed things
To be fair, if Jimenez was sent off it probably wouldn’t have made any difference to the game.
And, while fans were baying for a red, we should probably take a leaf out of Marcelo Bielsa’s book and focus on the game rather than decisions that weren’t given by the ref.
Talking after the game when asked about the incident Bielsa said, “Nothing important, nothing significant, nothing to comment.”
Bielsa never blames the referee for results not going his way and it’s such an admirable trait.
Talk prior to the game had been that Coote and Oliver would be more likely to give a red card in the Leeds game after getting it so wrong in the Liverpool match.
However, it looks like they might have seen that and decided to go the other way.
What fans want is consistency and when you look at the Son challenge, this is another example of refs getting one or the other wrong.
On the pitch, Jimenez proved again why he’s such an important player for Nuno.
He picked up the ball for the goal out wide and there didn’t seem to be any threat. However, a slip from Pascal Struijk gave him the space to cut inside and eventually get a shot off that took a wicked deflection to beat Illan Meslier.
That goal was far unluckier for Leeds than Coote not awarding a red to the striker.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Leeds are a myth’ – Sky Sports pundit blasts Whites after 1-0 defeat v Wolves