OPINION
West Ham attacker Robert Snodgrass must view the dressing-down he received by Danny Murphy for his tackle on Tottenham winger Lucas Moura as a warning.
The BBC pundit spoke publicly of his anger at the 31-year-old’s challenge on the Brazilian during the Hammers’ 1-0 defeat to Spurs on Saturday on Match of the Day.
“You can’t like this type of tackle, he’s running too fast and Lucas Moura is lucky here, that he doesn’t do more damage,” said Murphy on the BBC One Match of the Day repeat (9:33am, Sunday October 21).
“It’s a naughty tackle and some of the others we’ve seen today, I think he’s lucky to get away with it, I think it’s a red card.
“I don’t know how he (the referee) hasn’t given a free-kick or a yellow card as for me it’s a red card.
“Sometimes they look nasty in slow motion but that was naughty and he was lucky to stay on.”
Murphy then went into more detail over why Snodgrass’ action angered him on talkSPORT by pointing out that the winger was risking his team’s chances if he continues to slide in on players in a similar fashion to as he did on Moura.
“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,” said the pundit (on talkSPORT Monday October 22, 10:37am).
Murphy particularly with his assessment on talkSPORT shows that Snodgrass must view the pundit’s anger over his tackle as a warning, because the pundit rightly points out that those sort of challenges will earn you a red card, meaning your manager can’t rely on you.
The 31-year-old winger’s challenge on Moura wasn’t the only dubious one he made during the Spurs clash and he has always had a tendency to push his limits when it comes to tackling, even if his red card record isn’t overly damning.
Given that it wasn’t that long ago that Snodgrass was viewed so far off being good enough for the Hammers’ first-team that he was loaned to Aston Villa for the season, the winger is at risk of becoming an outcast again.
The 31-year-old does work hard for the team and does have fantastic set-piece ability but there’s still question marks over whether Snodgrass can deliver the goods week-in and week-out in the Premier League.
Therefore given that his hard-working ethic would count for nothing if he started seeing red in games, as Pellegrini would rather have 11 players on the pitch, then he just needs to make sure he’s careful.
Snodgrass probably ended up making more attempted tackles against Spurs then in other games as he was playing in a more central role for once, but if that’s where he is chosen to play, he needs to ensure he’s not reckless.
The 31-year-old has found himself as an outcast at the London Stadium before and given his age, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he soon found himself cast out again if he hands his manager any reason to doubt him.
