Gary Lineker hits out after Tottenham win v Tamworth, wants change
Tottenham benefitted from an “unfair” advantage in their 3-0 FA Cup victory over Tamworth on Sunday, according to Gary Lineker.
Ange Postecoglou’s side needed extra time to get past the minnows who are 16th in the Vanarama National League on 12 January.
The decision to scrap replays in the competition from this season onwards was controversial and the debate has been reignited following the contest.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast (12 January), the former Lilywhites striker, said: “Personally, I think if they’re going to take away replays, it should take away extra time because otherwise it really favours the strong teams because they’ve got bigger squads and they can put on their best players in extra time, like Spurs did, and they went on to win.
“So I think that’s unfair. They should if they’re going to do away with replays, which I think, to be honest, as much as it’s a shame, but I think they need to find other ways of supporting teams from lower divisions, lower leagues and non-league.”
Tamworth robbed after Tottenham loss
There are two sides to the debate on replays, both with legitimate arguments for and against the scrapping of them.
The non-league outfit would have benefitted massively from a money-spinning replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and did not have the legs to go an extra 30 minutes on the day.
In fact, football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that the Lambs would have earned around £850,000 if replays still existed.
However, they had a much better chance to shock the world and go through to the next round with a penalty shootout rather than another match against a Premier League side.
Another consideration is player workload at the top of the game, they are already overworked, for example, Spurs have eight matches in 26 days in January alone.
One thing is for sure, the minnows gave a great account of themselves with their performance and Spurs will be feeling lucky to have gotten through after a very poor performance.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs could be rocked by a sensational Real Madrid swoop for a star duo.
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