‘That is not normal’ – MotD pundit slams one Leeds player for display v Arsenal
Arsenal played the majority of the second half on Sunday with 10 men after Pepe was sent off for head-butting Leeds United star Gjanni Alioski.
Pepe’s actions were described in no uncertain terms by Mikel Arteta as “unacceptable” after the game and his view was echoed on Match of the Day 2 (Sunday, BBC1, 10pm) by Danny Murphy.
However, Murphy extended his ire to Alioski as well and said it “is not normal” for a player to go down like that after minimal contact.
“What is also unacceptable for me is Alioski’s response,” Murphy said.
“Going over when he didn’t have to, that wasn’t enough to put him on his back and too often now we see players trying to stitch up other players.
“I know you’ll have people saying that’s normal now. That is not normal to me. It’s not the way I was brought up.
“And that’s why Kieran Tierney, an honest lad, was fuming at the end of the game.”
Alioski not the story here
Match of the Day 2 followed up on Murphy’s comments by asking if Alioski hadn’t gone down, would Pepe have been sent off?
It’s a valid point. Did Alioski exaggerate the reaction to the head-butt? Yes, but that’s not the story here.
What Pepe did was a clear red card offence. It wasn’t spotted immediately by the referee and it’s why we’ve got VAR.
If Alioski chooses to exaggerate a reaction to a violent act, it’s completely different to going down after no contact.
And it’s not a case of “stitching up a player” as Murphy said. Arteta made it clear what he thought and he had no issue with Alioski’s reaction.
Let’s keep the focus on Pepe and what he did, and how he let the Arsenal team down. He deserved to be sent off and it doesn’t matter how Alioski reacted.
Tierney was lucky not to get sent off himself and we hope he had the same reaction when he saw Pepe.
Alisoki did what he did after being head-butted by Pepe – that’s the story here.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Horrific’, ‘Absolutely woeful’ – Many Leeds fans savage ‘garbage’ player v Arsenal