Thomas Frank fumes at VAR’s failure to award a penalty for Hugo Ekitike’s push on Cristian Romero during Tottenham’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool.
Thomas Frank is fuming after Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, pointing to a crucial VAR mistake that denied Spurs a penalty.
Hugo Ekitike pushed Cristian Romero in the box, but the officials failed to award a penalty, sparking Frank’s outrage..
The Tottenham manager called it the “biggest mistake” of the game, saying, “I think the second goal is a mistake from the ref. I think there’s two clear hands on the back. I don’t understand it, how you can do that.”
Frank was particularly frustrated with the inconsistency in refereeing decisions, citing countless examples of similar incidents resulting in penalties. “Everywhere else we’ve seen that, 1000 times out there on the pitch, someone will go up on a header, a goal kick into the centre-back, two hands in the back, and boom, foul, but apparently not the penalty box.”
Adding to Spurs’ misery, Xavi Simons and Romero were sent off, leaving the team down to nine men. Frank disagreed with Simons’ red card, saying, “I don’t like this as a red card. I think the game is probably too big to take on.”
Frank argued that Simons’ challenge on Virgil van Dijk wasn’t reckless, saying, “He’s chasing Van Dijk. He’s trying to put pressure and then he changed direction and then unfortunately his foot is on his Achilles.”
