Ex-Spurs scout: Tottenham star Bissouma ‘could have broken his ankle’ as controversial footage re-analysed
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Ex-Tottenham scout Bryan King has insisted Curtis Jones could have “broken Yves Bissouma’s ankle” with his horror challenge in Saturday’s win over Liverpool.
Midfielder Jones was shown a 26th-minute red card after VAR overturned the initial decision of the referee after reviewing footage of the incident.
It came on a day of remarkable drama that included two red cards, three goals including a last-second winner and perhaps the most controversial VAR incident ever as a result of the officials’ inexplicable Luis Diaz off-side howler.
Son Heung-min had put Spurs ahead shortly after Jones’ dismissal before Cody Gakpo cancelled out the opener on the stroke of half-time.
The home side would go on to win the game 2-1 thanks to a 96th-minute Joel Matip own goal in what would prove to be one of the final kicks of the game.
Jurgen Klopp’s men were forced to play the final 25 minutes of the contest with nine men after half-time substitute Diogo Jota was sent off for two bookable offences.
However, it was Jones’ sending-off which proved to be the bigger talking point of the two dismissals, and ex-Spurs scout Bryan King described his view on the situation to Tottenham News.
“A lot of experts have said that his foot rolled off the top of the ball, but I disagree. For me, he was already aiming to go over the ball anyway.
“It was a reckless challenge and he could have broken Yves Bissouma’s ankle. It was unnecessary, by making that challenge he was asking for trouble.”
In other Tottenham news, King provided his ratings on the Liverpool players who took to the field during the defeat.