Diogo Jota, a substitute for Liverpool, was sent off 24 minutes after entering the game, and the Liverpool player has since received criticism for his performance against Tottenham.
Jurgen Klopp’s team had to play the final 20 minutes of the game with nine men as the Reds suffered their first loss of the season against the fierce Spurs. Pundit Gary Neville strongly disagreed with the contentious decision to send Curtis Jones off in the first half.
Ten minutes after the sent off, Heung-Min Son scored to give the home team the lead, and Cody Gakpo levelled right before halftime. However, the Dutchman hurt himself while scoring the goal, and Jota replaced him.
However, the Portugal international, who was booked twice in a short period of time, gave a poor performance. His first yellow card was severe; replays revealed that Iyenoma Udogie had tripped over his own foot.
However, his second booking and consequent red card could not be taken too personally. After losing the ball to Udogie, Jota attempted to recover it by lunging into a tackle, but he missed it entirely and instead clipped the Spurs player.
That meant referee Simon Hooper was sending him for an early bath barely over a minute after he picked up his first booking. After his terrible cameo, former Reds player Stephen Warnock gave the attacker a hard time.
“Diago Jota receives a resounding second yellow card. Since entering the game at halftime, he has performed poorly and has not kept up with the game’s tempo. In his own half, he drops the ball. Jota dives to the ground as Udogie closes in, clipping the left back’s heels in the process. “No issues,” he said to BBC Sport.
When Iyenoma Udogie lunged at Jota, she turned red.
Jota became enraged as Iyenoma Udogie lunged at her
“One of the best football games I’ve watched in a long time just happened to us. The level of quality exhibited by both parties was astounding. Liverpool contributed to making it such a spectacle, even with ten and then nine men.
“But in the end, Spurs had enough to score the game-winning goal. A fantastic outcome for them and Big Ange, but in the wake of it, questions will be raised about the officiating.”
Neville supported Jota’s red card but disagreed with Hooper’s decision to send Jones off. The former captain of Manchester United criticised Jota for his “stupidity” and made a suggestion that he would have a tough conversation with manager Klopp.
“That is merely foolishness. That won’t take up much of Jurgen Klopp’s time. What is he doing? Udogie knows he’s gone, and he’s not on the right side of the man. He was simply booked, which is not very shrewd of Jota. Neville commented, “He’s let his teammates down there.”
