Mathys Tel

[BrentwoodSpur]

Not good.

Roberto De Zerbi has described Mathys Tel’s injury as a ‘bad injury on the ankle’ and will now await further medical checks after the winger was forced off in our lunchtime loss against Leeds.
Mathys was left reeling after Jayden Bogle’s challenge after 34 minutes, the Leeds defender connecting with his left ankle. Mathys tried to continue after lengthy treatment, but went down again a few minutes later, replaced by Dominic Solanke.

Winning run ended at Leeds​

After an even first half, Leeds forced us back in the second half and eventually took maximum points via Noah Okafor’s goal on 79 minutes.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY at Elland Road, Roberto told us: “Mathys had a bad injury on the ankle. We need to make a medical check to understand the situation.”

Asked how bad the injury was in his post-match press conference, Roberto added: “Bad injury. Now we have to make the medical checks and in the next day we will know the problem.”

 

[Robbo]

Poor kid. And the player who injured him didn't get any kind of punishment for the horror tackle. What kind of signal does that send to players who like to go in hard in tackles? There's certainly no incentive to restrict themselves when they know refs accept forceful, studs first stamps to the ankle/achilles. There will be more serious injuries as a consequence of this decision.

 

[revlis]

Poor kid. And the player who injured him didn't get any kind of punishment for the horror tackle. What kind of signal does that send to players who like to go in hard in tackles? There's certainly no incentive to restrict themselves when they know refs accept forceful, studs first stamps to the ankle/achilles. There will be more serious injuries as a consequence of this decision.

No intent or maliciousness for me, not even a challenge but just a step that unfortunately landed on Tel's ankle. Doesn't mean he shouldn't escape punishment but beyond that I've no issues with the player (and that he's been subject to racist abuse is both entirely predictable and absolutely ridiculous -- hopefully they're identified and banned.)

 

[glorygloryeze]

Is there any update on how long he's expected to be out?

 

[johnaliola]

Farke admitted he has told the player to be more aggressive. Whilst he may not have asked him to put Tel out of the game directly you can be sure that was one outcome that would have suited that directive.
So to my mind the referees need to look very carefully at the challenges Leeds players are putting in.

 

[Robbo]

No intent or maliciousness for me, not even a challenge but just a step that unfortunately landed on Tel's ankle. Doesn't mean he shouldn't escape punishment but beyond that I've no issues with the player (and that he's been subject to racist abuse is both entirely predictable and absolutely ridiculous -- hopefully they're identified and banned.)

I don't believe he intended to cause injury, but he absolutely wanted Tel to feel the impact. He misjudged spectacularily. Hence he had no control and should've been sent off. That would send a signal to other players that it's your responsibility to stay in control of the tackles you make, and that you will face consequenses if you don’t - instead the refs sent the opposite message.

None of this warrants racism or personal abuse towards the player, of course, and I hope we find and ban for life those who have made racist remarks towards him.

 

[revlis]

I don't believe he intended to cause injury, but he absolutely wanted Tel to feel the impact. He misjudged spectacularily. Hence he had no control and should've been sent off. That would send a signal to other players that it's your responsibility to stay in control of the tackles you make, and that you will face consequenses if you don’t - instead the refs sent the opposite message.

None of this warrants racism or personal abuse towards the player, of course, and I hope we find and ban for life those who have made racist remarks towards him.

I disagree that he could be more careful. I think that’s just a symptom of the umpteen slow motion replays. Tel moved so quickly, Bogle tried to adjust but couldn’t in time and got Tel in a really bad way. Things like this should be allowed to happen in football, similar to Xavi vs Liverpool. We want to protect players, but not at all costs.

 

[Muttley]

It's a shame really that the focus is even on Fogle or Tel. The focus should be on John Brooks and Tony Harrington (video ref).

Harrington especially should do what most of us do and look at the football. Is Fogle making a a fair attempt to play the ball. Perhaps a tiny bit but mostly not as he is nowhere near the ball in his contact. It's also a 2-footed tackle when you think about it. He makes contact with his right foot which did the damage on Tel but he also swept his left foot around and made a second contact. If he had gone to ground there would be no doubt. What's the difference?

I just find it a complete shame that once again the spotlight is on the players and not on the officials.

 

[glasgowspur]

It's a shame really that the focus is even on Fogle or Tel. The focus should be on John Brooks and Tony Harrington (video ref).

Harrington especially should do what most of us do and look at the football. Is Fogle making a a fair attempt to play the ball. Perhaps a tiny bit but mostly not as he is nowhere near the ball in his contact. It's also a 2-footed tackle when you think about it. He makes contact with his right foot which did the damage on Tel but he also swept his left foot around and made a second contact. If he had gone to ground there would be no doubt. What's the difference?

I just find it a complete shame that once again the spotlight is on the players and not on the officials.

I've only seen a short clip of it but that's what strikes me, he is nowhere near the ball.
It's either extremely late, very clumsy or an out of control tackle.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

It's a shame really that the focus is even on Fogle or Tel. The focus should be on John Brooks and Tony Harrington (video ref).

Harrington especially should do what most of us do and look at the football. Is Fogle making a a fair attempt to play the ball. Perhaps a tiny bit but mostly not as he is nowhere near the ball in his contact. It's also a 2-footed tackle when you think about it. He makes contact with his right foot which did the damage on Tel but he also swept his left foot around and made a second contact. If he had gone to ground there would be no doubt. What's the difference?

I just find it a complete shame that once again the spotlight is on the players and not on the officials.

This

 

[Raziel]

I've only seen a short clip of it but that's what strikes me, he is nowhere near the ball.
It's either extremely late, very clumsy or an out of control tackle.

It's a bit of both, Tel did him, and asshole instructions from Farke to "be physical" so he was planning to leave a little bit of afters.

100% red and the reason some of those niggling tackles (Everton does it all the fudging time) need to be called more often, because when mistimed this is what happens.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

It's a shame really that the focus is even on Fogle or Tel. The focus should be on John Brooks and Tony Harrington (video ref).

Harrington especially should do what most of us do and look at the football. Is Fogle making a a fair attempt to play the ball. Perhaps a tiny bit but mostly not as he is nowhere near the ball in his contact. It's also a 2-footed tackle when you think about it. He makes contact with his right foot which did the damage on Tel but he also swept his left foot around and made a second contact. If he had gone to ground there would be no doubt. What's the difference?

I just find it a complete shame that once again the spotlight is on the players and not on the officials.

Yeah, I saw a good perspective that Bogle is unlucky to cause that much damage to Tel in isolation, because it clearly isn’t intentional to do that, but, he never would have been in a position to do that had Leeds not been told to be physical as they are.

The issue is not even with Leeds though, it’s with the refs. Because they allow Leeds to be that way, all through the game. And so the consequence eventually ends up being that Bogle wants to get really close Tel, so that Tel feels him, and that’s where the injury can occur. If our players had more protection throughout the game, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

It is so unfair. I can see why this incident probably sapped the mental energy from our squad and made it hard to recover in the second half. Because Tel did everything right, he did him with skill, and he’s paid the price with a bad injury. Not only that, but the player didn’t get sent off or even a yellow, which would have helped calm Leeds’ physicality a little in and of itself. Our second half performance was very odd, but I wouldn’t be surprised if subconsciously the players just felt that whatever they did, no matter how well they did it, they weren’t getting the protection they deserved.

Also I’m very interested in the club’s posture towards the refs. RDZ says ‘bad injury’ and makes clear it’s an issue, but also that he has ‘big confidence’ in the ref and VAR. What is the club’s game here? Are we making a point of being supportive in in public and critical behind the scenes? Because we never put the public pressure on and more than any club we deserve to. Not fully understanding the strategy here but I’m assuming there’s some reasoning behind it.

 

[monkeybarry]

These are the moments that open up for someone else.
I'm not wishing Tel becomes Routledge, but I'm really hoping this is the Aaron Lennon moment for LWB

 

[Raziel]

Yeah, I saw a good perspective that Bogle is unlucky to cause that much damage to Tel in isolation, because it clearly isn’t intentional to do that, but, he never would have been in a position to do that had Leeds not been told to be physical as they are.

The issue is not even with Leeds though, it’s with the refs. Because they allow Leeds to be that way, all through the game. And so the consequence eventually ends up being that Bogle wants to get really close Tel, so that Tel feels him, and that’s where the injury can occur. If our players had more protection throughout the game, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

It is so unfair. I can see why this incident probably sapped the mental energy from our squad and made it hard to recover in the second half. Because Tel did everything right, he did him with skill, and he’s paid the price with a bad injury. Not only that, but the player didn’t get sent off or even a yellow, which would have helped calm Leeds’ physicality a little in and of itself. Our second half performance was very odd, but I wouldn’t be surprised if subconsciously the players just felt that whatever they did, no matter how well they did it, they weren’t getting the protection they deserved.

Also I’m very interested in the club’s posture towards the refs. RDZ says ‘bad injury’ and makes clear it’s an issue, but also that he has ‘big confidence’ in the ref and VAR. What is the club’s game here? Are we making a point of being supportive in in public and critical behind the scenes? Because we never put the public pressure on and more than any club we deserve to. Not fully understanding the strategy here but I’m assuming there’s some reasoning behind it.

But we all knew Leeds was going to play that way, my point above with any David Moyes side, the fact that we all know what Cash will do, the fact that Maddison (and England international) and Xavi before him gets hacked down every game with very few of the fouls getting called.

Not sure what the answer is, but pressure does need to be put on refs.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

But we all knew Leeds was going to play that way, my point above with any David Moyes side, the fact that we all know what Cash will do, the fact that Maddison (and England international) and Xavi before him gets hacked down every game with very few of the fouls getting called.

Not sure what the answer is, but pressure does need to be put on refs.

I agree with you. It becomes a justifiable reason for top talents to not want to play football in the PL. And go to other leagues where talented players will be more protected.

I think the PL probably likes the physicality as a way they market the competitive product where anyone can beat anyone. But at some point there needs to be a balance and it is ridiculous that good players are getting taken out like this.

I really do wonder what the club’s strategy is, because it seems like they want to be seen as very agreeable to the refs, at least in public.

 

[Muttley]

I agree with you. It becomes a justifiable reason for top talents to not want to play football in the PL. And go to other leagues where talented players will be more protected.

I think the PL probably likes the physicality as a way they market the competitive product where anyone can beat anyone. But at some point there needs to be a balance and it is ridiculous that good players are getting taken out like this.

I really do wonder what the club’s strategy is, because it seems like they want to be seen as very agreeable to the refs, at least in public.

It could never be spelt out better than this article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c6n9r93dnr9do

Whisper it quietly, but the statistics say video assistant referee decisions have been pretty good in the Premier League so far this season.

The Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel, which looks at every contentious decision and votes whether it is right or wrong, reported just two VAR errors after eight rounds of matches.

At the same stage last season, there had been six mistakes.

This is what fans just shoudn't have to accept. I see 6 mistakes every 20 mins of football nowadays in every single match. That is if you use the laws of the game. I think the time for pussy footing around PGMOL is long gone. They should have got their house in order half a decade ago and as you quite rightly point out about, the PL has got more physical under Howard Webb's stewardship. He needs firing.

We are all left scratching our heads as to why all the PL clubs aren't giving Howard Webb a real kicking and reminding him that he won't get anyone's support if he doesn't sort this out. I'd love to meet the guy publicly. I'd go head to head with him live in a Sky studio and represent fans up and down the country. His organisation is toxic and no good for football. He's cheating a salary.

 

[Raziel]

It could never be spelt out better than this article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c6n9r93dnr9do

Whisper it quietly, but the statistics say video assistant referee decisions have been pretty good in the Premier League so far this season.

The Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel, which looks at every contentious decision and votes whether it is right or wrong, reported just two VAR errors after eight rounds of matches.

At the same stage last season, there had been six mistakes.

This is what fans just shoudn't have to accept. I see 6 mistakes every 20 mins of football nowadays in every single match. That is if you use the laws of the game. I think the time for pussy footing around PGMOL is long gone. They should have got their house in order half a decade ago and as you quite rightly point out about, the PL has got more physical under Howard Webb's stewardship. He needs firing.

We are all left scratching our heads as to why all the PL clubs aren't giving Howard Webb a real kicking and reminding him that he won't get anyone's support if he doesn't sort this out. I'd love to meet the guy publicly. I'd go head to head with him live in a Sky studio and represent fans up and down the country. His organisation is toxic and no good for football. He's cheating a salary.

We investigated ourselves and didn't find any issues .. literally wtf

The measurement should be, have every club submit their perceived wrong decisions post-match and compare that to the KMI panel, or have the KMI panel include a club representative for each game they review with that club.

There were at least 3 VAR error decisions last week-end (by most consensus), to say they had 6 all season is criminal

 

[Robbo]

I don't know which two errors they refer to, but what it basically means is they consider every other overlooked incident as perfectly fine and well within the rules of the game.

Like reckless studs to the ankle, hair pulling in duels, body checking the goalie, grappling in the box and shirt pulling as a means to prevent goalscoring opportunities.

What game is it they think they are reffing?