Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has slammed Harry Kane for what he saw as his role in Joe Ralls’s sending off at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Spurs ran out 1-0 winners over the Bluebirds, but Warnock was left unimpressed by Kane’s conduct following Ralls’s wayward tackle on Lucas Moura. The 6ft 2in England captain [Source: Transfermarkt] immediately sprinted towards the referee after Ralls’s challenge, with the Cardiff man eventually given his marching orders.
“I don’t think he needs to do that,” Warnock said, as quoted by the Mirror. “I think he’s a tremendous player. But I don’t think you try to get other pros sent off, just because he’s had a poor game and Spurs were having a poor game – he shouldn’t take it out on us.
“He’s doing that to make an issue of it to make the referee think it’s worse than what it is. An England player going off like that, dear me. He went straight in and pushed him, so why not give him a red?”
OPINION
It’s hard to disagree with Warnock here. The Cardiff boss is a controversial figure who does often say some bizarre things, but he’s correct on this one. Kane didn’t act like an England captain on Saturday. Ralls’s challenge was poor and was undoubtedly worthy of a sending off, but the 25-year-old made the situation worse by running over to the referee. He was drawing extra attention to the challenge and giving his two cents to ensure that the Bluebirds man was dismissed. He didn’t need to do that because the tackle spoke for itself. Unfortunately this sort of thing is all too typical in football these days. Players crowd around the referee whenever there is a flashpoint, as they look to secure the outcome they are looking for. It’s unseemly and it doesn’t look good but that’s just the way things are in this day and age. You wouldn’t expect such conduct from Kane but that’s what happened. You have to say that the England skipper let himself down a bit.