Danny Murphy revealed that he would have punched West Ham player Robert Snodgrass if he had tackled him in the same way he brought down Tottenham attacker Lucas Moura in Saturday’s clash at the London Stadium.
The pundit, regularly seen on BBC shows such as Match of the Day, revealed on talkSPORT that while he thinks the 31-year-old Hammers winger is very talented, his challenge on Moura was unacceptable.
Murphy was clearly still fuming with the action of the Hammers’ winger in the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham as he previously commented on the challenge during Saturday’s Match of the Day.
“I’d wanna smash his face in (on Snodgrass’ tackle),” admitted the BBC pundit (on talkSPORT Monday October 22, 10:35am).
“Now that’s the one thing I’ve always said if someone tries to do ya, Sane (Leroy for Manchester City) another one but that was more petulant, i thought Kompany got away with one as well as he caught Lennon (Aaron).
“But it’s not about Snodgrass, Sane or Kompany, it’s about any player that goes in stupidly and could damage you.
“I’ve talked about this before, there’s somethings in football that I don’t think are as relevant as others, yes bad behaviour is unacceptable in any form, but when someone physically takes a risk with your health or ability to play that drives me mad.
“It was naughty that one, other players have done it’s not just him (Snodgrass), he’s a talented player, very talented player but any player who is talented who keeps going into tackles like that and risking his team, as you could get sent off, can’t be relied on.”
OPINION
Snodgrass’ tackle has clearly rattled Murphy as after speaking about it on Saturday, he commented again on Monday. It’s easy to see why the BBC pundit condemns the 31-year-old’s action during his side’s clash with Spurs as there was no reason to go sliding in on Moura in the way that he did. The Brazilian winger was lucky not to have suffered an injury and was rightly furious that Snodgrass was not booked nor punished by seeing Spurs awarded a free-kick. It’s also very easy to agree with Murphy’s assessment of the Hammers player. Snodgrass has proven himself to be a talented player for the Hammers this season as his wears his heart on his sleeve, but if he continues to tackle like that, then he’ll be a liability. Manuel Pellegrini can’t field a player he doesn’t trust as if his side did get reduced to 10-men because of Snodgrass’ actions during a game, then the Hammers manager would have to take some of the blame for fielding him, when he knows his tackling ability can get him in trouble.
