Attwell 'ignored Bergvall Tottenham red v Liverpool after he was told of dive'
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Stuart Attwell deliberately ignored Lucas Bergvall’s potential red card after a key foul on Kostas Tsimikas in the 1-0 Tottenham victory, Paul Merson believes.
In the dying moment’s of the match-up between Tottenham and Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final, Bergvall scythed down Tsimikas and was surpsingly not shown a second yellow card for the foul.
Bergvall had already been booked for his challenge on winger Luis Diaz in the first-half.
The decision played a major factor in the outcome of the match, as the young Swedish midfielder went on to score a late winner just moments later with Tsimikas off the pitch.
Notably, despite Ange Postecoglou’s claims, Attwell did not play advantage meaning the referee did not deem the challenge to even be a foul [Daily Mail] and Merson believes he was “levelling up” his decisions after being told that he got the first instance wrong.
Speaking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (1.18pm) Merson said: “I thought it was a special goal, great bit of centre-forward play, what a run and finish that is.
“I know people say he shouldn’t have been on the pitch but the lad dived for the first booking in my opinion so it come back to bite them.
“The first one was definitely not [a yellow card], he never touched him, he [Diaz] dived.
“So I personally think the ref has been told ‘you made a mistake with the first one’ and I think that’s why he was pretty lenient on the second one. That’s my opinion. I know people say ‘oh you don’t level it up’, but why not?”
Ange Postecoglou looks to turn around Tottenham campaign
Football Insider opinion
This season has been a poor one for Spurs, however, Postecoglou has been insistent that he would win a trophy in his second season at the club. [Sky Sports]
The North London club are currently 12th in the Premier League table having already lost 10 games this season, as many as 18th placed Ipswich Town.
He will therefore be looking to take full advantage of whatever luck his side got when it came to Bergvall against Arne Slot’s men.
Injuries have played a major part in Spurs’ poor form this year. 18-year-old Archie Gray has been played out of position as a centre-back, and Rodrigo Bentancur is the latest Lilywhite to face a spell on the side-lines having collapsed against Liverpool.
With the club leading in the first-leg against Liverpool, a first trophy since 2008 is within touching distance for Postecoglou and his sputtering Spurs side.
Reinforcements in January are likely to be a necessity and Tottenham have been linked with Manchester City-target, Abdukodir Khusanov.
In other news, Frankfurt have been linked with a Spurs player to replace outbound Omar Marmoush.
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