Ao Tanaka of Leeds United is challenged by Kellen Fisher and Jack Stacey of Norwich City during the Sky Bet Championship match. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Leeds went top of the Championship table on Wednesday after victory over Norwich, though the match wasn’t without incident as Ao Tanaka should’ve seen red says ex-PGMOL chief, Keith Hackett.
Daniel Farke will surely be delighted with victory over one of his former employers, as it keeps the all whites top of the English second tier, with one of the games of the season to follow.
Ao Tanaka should’ve been sent off says Keith Hackett
Leeds travel to Burnley in their next fixture, and the result of that match could go some way to determining how serious their aspirations for promotion are.
Farke is hoping for a reunion at Elland Road with one particular player, whilst Willy Gnonto is expected to move to Saudi Arabia in order to give club coffers a timely boost.
It’s clearly an important juggling act that needs to be done by the manager in order to keep the club competitive as we approach the business end of the season.
The win over Norwich will go some way to keeping things on track, though it appears that they were lucky not to go down to 10 men.
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Ao Tanaka had already been booked in the first-half, and another reckless challenge early in the second period was worthy of a second yellow – which wasn’t forthcoming.
That clearly irked former PGMOL chief, Keith Hackett.
Leeds were lucky to have Ao Tanaka on the pitch
“Tanaka should have received a second yellow for this reckless challenge,” he said to MOT Leeds News.
“Well done to his manager, Farke.
“He witnessed what had happened and discreetly did the right thing to stop his team from going down to ten men.”
Whilst robust challenges need to remain part of the game, particularly in the Championship where every game is competitive, referees need to clamp down harder on those tackles that endanger an opponent.
