Leeds United’s Ao Tanaka is challenged by Norwich City’s Kellen Fisher and Jack Stacey during the Sky Bet Championship match. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Leeds went top of the Championship table on Wednesday after beating Norwich, although the game was not without incident as Ao Tanaka should have seen red, says former PGMOL boss Keith Hackett.
Daniel Farke will certainly be pleased with victory over one of his former employers as he keeps the Whites top of England’s second tier with one of the games of the season to come.
Ao Tanaka should have been fired, says Keith Hackett
Leeds travel to Burnley in their next game and the result of that match could determine how serious their promotion aspirations are.
Farke is hoping for a reunion at Elland Road with a certain player, while Willy Gnonto is expected to move to Saudi Arabia in order to give a timely boost to the club’s coffers.
It is clearly a major juggling act to be performed by the manager in order to keep the club competitive as we approach the business end of the season.
A win over Norwich will go some way to keeping things on track, although it seems 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 deserved a second yellow – which was not forthcoming.
This clearly angered 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 told you MOT Leeds News.
“Well done to his manager, Farke.
“He witnessed what had happened and subtly did the right thing to stop his team going down to ten men.”
While strong challenges must remain part of the game, particularly in the Championship where every game is competitive, referees must push harder on those tackles that put an opponent at risk.
2025-01-23 11:41:00
