James Maddison’s departure angers Forest after VAR spares Tottenham for alleged ‘punching’ incident.
James Maddison was let off the hook despite appearing to ‘punch’ Ryan Yates during Tottenham’s victory over Nottingham Forest. Nuno Espirito Santo, the manager of Tottenham, was furious after Maddison escaped punishment following an altercation with Yates. An own goal from Murillo opened the scoring for Spurs, with Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro also on target after Chris Wood’s first-half strike for Forest.
At one point, Yates was left furious after Maddison appeared to push him to the ground on the edge of Forest’s penalty area. Some viewers and Forest fans felt that Maddison had thrown a sly punch in the direction of Yates and took to social media to vent their frustration. In his post-match press conference, Nuno insisted that Maddison should have been sent off for violent conduct and expressed his surprise that VAR officials decided not to intervene.
Nuno Espirito Santo was adamant that Maddison should have been sent off and stated, “I saw it, what I see is clear. What they saw clearly is not the same as we saw. It’s a red card.
I spoke to Yates and asked him and what he felt and I saw the images. I wouldn’t speak if I wasn’t 100 per cent sure. It is a red card.
I think James Maddison loses his composure.” Former Forest player Keane commented on Yates’ reaction, stating, “I worked with Yates at Forest, really nice kid, but every week somebody touches him he goes down. He goes down far too easily.
For such a decent lad, he needs to cut that out of his game.” Fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp also sided with Maddison over the incident, adding, “It’s not a lot.”
