Troy Deeney made a controversial statement about Virgil van Dijk during the Newcastle vs Liverpool match on Monday night.
The former Premier League striker was speaking on talkSPORT during the game at St James’ Park when he made an unusual claim following Anthony Gordon’s red card.
Just before halftime, Gordon aggressively closed down Van Dijk but mistimed his tackle, leading referee Simon Hooper to initially show a yellow card.
However, after consulting the VAR monitor, the referee changed the decision to a red card, leaving Newcastle with ten players for the entire second half.
Besides the Newcastle fans at the stadium, most analysts and supporters agreed that Gordon’s challenge warranted a red card.
Even Newcastle legend Alan Shearer acknowledged the severity of the foul on X, stating: “What a stupid challenge, man. It’s a red card all day.”
Similarly, Sky Sports’ Thierry Henry expressed his opinion, saying, “At the time it happened, I said it was a red. Why put yourself in this situation? He [Gordon] got carried away, but you can’t argue with the decision.”
However, Deeney suggested that Van Dijk contributed to Gordon getting sent off.
“Virgil van Dijk played it cleverly,” Deeney said on talkSPORT. “He went down two or three times to make sure VAR reviewed it. You can’t really argue with the decision, can you? He’s not in control of the pace or tempo… I’ve been in that striker’s position. You want to win the crowd over. He’s moved from left-back to center-half to goalkeeper all the way up to Van Dijk and decided to leave a bit in the challenge.”
Deeney added: “That lonely moment when you’re alone in the changing room, you start thinking, ‘Oh my God, what have I done? Everyone’s going to hate me now.’”
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