Journalist Phil Hay believes that Leeds United should’ve been playing against 10 men on Sunday as referee Paul Tierney failed to send an opposing player off.
Leeds have now managed to stretch their unwanted winless run to five games after falling to a disappointing Sunday afternoon defeat despite taking a first-half lead away from home, although it could have been very different had Tierney brandished a red card in the direction of Cheick Doucouré.
The Crystal Palace midfielder picked up an early caution in the first half before he misjudged a tackle and planted his foot right down the Achilles of Tyler Adams, leaving the Leeds midfielder in a lot of pain. However, Tierney believed that it only warranted a free kick and not a second yellow card.
Hay disagreed, claiming on The Phil Hay Show that the Mali international should have been given his marching orders.
He said: “When I watched the Doucoure second challenge back, it was messy, it was uncontrolled, it wasn’t a good one. I think it probably was a second booking, but as I say, there was kind of more to the game than that.”
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TIF Thoughts on the Doucoure challenge…
As Hay spoke about, while Doucoure should have likely seen red for a clumsy challenge on Adams, that wasn’t the be-all and end-all of Leeds failing to win on Sunday, as they managed to muster up an xG total of just 0.9 (FBref).
However, given Luis Sinisterra was sent off two weeks ago after being handed two yellow cards, it’s understandable why some Leeds fans may well feel aggrieved by Tierney’s inability to send off Doucoure.
It was a very nasty challenge from Doucoure and he was lucky to have not left any lasting damage on Adams, and it appears Patrick Vieira even knew he was walking a tightrope as he was hooked off before the midfielder could hand Tierney another opportunity to potentially send him off.