Tottenham suffered a terrible 1-0 Premier League defeat against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
Spurs were poor in the game, as they have been all season. They didn’t create many clear-cut chances, which ended up costing them. Nordi Mukiele’s deflected shot in the 61st minute found the back of the net and was enough to give Sunderland the win.
However, the game was also marked by a highly incompetent performance by the referee, Robert Jones. The Englishman got every big decision wrong, while also making numerous smaller mistakes. It not only cost Spurs the game against Sunderland, but also led to Cristian Romero’s knee injury.
Rob Jones has questions to answer
The refereeing standard in the Premier League has been at an all-time low for most teams this season. However, Jones arguably managed to put in one of the worst performances by a referee this season on Sunday. Let’s take a look at his poor decisions on the night:
First Half:
- It all started in the 13th minute. Richarlison cleverly went past Mukiele, who tugged his arm and brought him down. An intentional foul to stop an attack is a textbook yellow card, but Mukiele didn’t get one.
- Just a few minutes later, Brian Brobbey just took out Romero way after the ball was gone. Again, a textbook yellow card was not given, and this turned out to be significant.
- Jones then pointed to the penalty spot in the 21st minute for a collision between Randal Kolo Muani and Omar Alderete. It was later correctly overturned by VAR.
- Seven minutes later, Romero makes a sliding tackle on Brobbey, winning the ball. Jones shows the Argentine a yellow card without hesitation.
- In the 33rd minute, Jones finally shows Brobbey a yellow card after his tussle with Pedro Porro led to him elbowing the defender. This should have been the striker’s second yellow card, but it wasn’t.
- Minutes later, Jones books Van de Ven for a foul on Brobbey and also Porro for alleged dissent. It’s notable how Mukiele wasn’t carded earlier for stopping an attack.
Also Read: Jamie O’Hara says referee made massive blunder during Sunderland vs Tottenham: “Rash”
Second half:
- In the 57th minute, Tottenham cleared a ball. A Sunderland defender attempted to head it, but it struck Kolo Muani’s face and bounced back. The Frenchman ran towards the ball, with Porro also joining in to make it a promising counter-attack for Spurs. However, Jones blew the whistle for a ghost handball against Kolo Muani.
- After Sunderland scored, they started a move from their right wing, which led to Romero’s injury. We’ll come to that in a second, but that move started with a harsh tackle on Tel, which gave Sunderland back the ball. Interestingly, no replay of that tackle was shown in the entire game.
- Just a few minutes after Sunderland scored, Brobbey pushed Romero into Antonin Kinsky, leading to an awful collision. The Sunderland striker was nowhere near the ball and knew what he was doing by pushing the Argentine.
As a result, Kinsky suffered a head injury. Meanwhile, Romero was subbed off and was in tears. While there has been no official confirmation, there are fears about a potential knee injury, which could also ruin his chances of featuring at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Note how Brobbey should not even have been on the pitch to make this intentional push. However, the striker certainly should have received a second yellow card for this incident. Jones, however, kept his card in his pocket. - Also in the second half, Destiny Udogie was clean through on goal. However, Luke O’Nein put an arm around his chest and stepped on his calf to put him down.
Jones again decided this wasn’t a foul. It would’ve also been a red card for O’Nein had the foul been given, considering he was Sunderland’s last man.
Also Read: Roberto De Zerbi provides Cristian Romero injury update immediately after Sunderland 0-1 Tottenham
Tottenham weren’t good against Sunderland. They didn’t create enough chances and should have done much better for Mukiele’s goal.
However, Jones had a huge impact on the result and won’t be a popular man in Tottenham if they eventually go down.
