Referee Rob Jones was criticized for not sending off Brian Brobbey for attacking Tottenham captain Cristian Romero during Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to Sunderland.
Rob Jones was criticized for his decision (Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
The referee who did not send off Brian Brobbey against Tottenham has committed five incidents in key games this season, the Premier League committee has ruled. Rob Jones was in charge of Sunderland’s match against Spurs on April 12, in which Brobby challenged Cristian Romero late on.
In the 63rd minute, the Sunderland striker tried to get on the end of a pass from teammate Nordi Mukiele. However, Romero defended the ball, which ended up in the hands of Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinski.
Blobby then hit Romero in the back and sent him into Kinski. In the process, the Spurs captain injured his knee and will miss the rest of the season.
Jones gave a foul on Blobby, but crucially the Dutchman, who had already been shown a yellow card, avoided being sent off. VAR cannot intervene for a possible second yellow.
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The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) Committee has now ruled 3-2 on Jones’ mistake, with a majority finding there was a “two-handed push and unnecessary recklessness”.
This season, Jones has been responsible for five of the 12 KMI errors related to second yellow cards not shown. The other four are Newcastle’s Malick Thiaw (v Bournemouth), Manchester City defender Ruben Dias (v Nottingham Forest), team-mate Rodri (v Tottenham) and Chelsea star Cole Palmer (v Leeds United).
Over the past two seasons, Jones has made the most mistakes on second bookings. The Merseyside-born referee was found guilty of 10 of his 42 mistakes, including canceling Tottenham’s penalty early in the game.
When Jones’ mistake against Tottenham was revealed to Spurs manager Roberto De Zerbi in a press conference on Friday, he replied: “Can we play that game again? I don’t think so. It was clear but it didn’t matter. We have to move on.”
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Brian Brobby avoids a second yellow card for shoving Cristian Romero (Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
Tottenham travel to face already relegated Wolves in a hugely important game at 3pm on Saturday. De Zerbi’s side remain in the relegation zone and are struggling, just two points behind West Ham, who host Everton during the game.
“It’s a tough game because they have nothing to lose,” the Tottenham manager said. “It’s certainly an important game for us, but we have to be able to play without too much pressure.
“Sometimes when a team loses too many games, there are rumors and rumors about bad behavior and people talking about players who don’t play very seriously, but no, that’s not the case here.”
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