Tottenham’s Mousa Dembélé Banned for Six Games
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, Mousa Dembélé, has been banned for six games after poking/scratching Chelsea striker, Diego Costa’s eye during or around the 45th minute near the touchline.
Once cameras showed what had occurred between Mousa Dembélé and Diego Costa, it was very clear that a suspension would happen even though referee Mark Clattenburg and his staff didn’t see anything as they were attending to a separate incident that occurred elsewhere.
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While a player who is charged with violent conduct automatically gets a three-match ban, the Football Association’s official website went into detail on why Dembélé’s actions were serious enough to warrant an additional three-match suspension.
"“The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder accepted the charge but denied The FA’s claim that the standard punishment of three matches which would otherwise apply to this offence was clearly insufficient.”“An Independent Regulatory Commission upheld The FA’s claim at a hearing today [Friday 6 May 2016] and ordered that an additional three-match suspension was appropriate.”“The player was involved in an incident with Chelsea’s Diego Costa in or around the 45th minute of the fixture at Stamford Bridge on Monday [2 May 2016].”"
According to the Telegraph, Tottenham had accepted the charge placed on the Belgian midfielder, but argued that Dembélé’s actions didn’t constitute in an additional three-match ban because of his disciplinary record this season.
But that alone wasn’t enough to convince the FA.
Now, with Dele Alli already serving his suspension for punching West Bromwich Albion midfielder, Claudio Yacob, this is the second time in consecutive weeks that a Tottenham player has been banned.
These two altercations won’t damage or hurt Spurs’ season in any way as they’re just minor blips in an overall successful campaign. But Mauricio Pochettino fully acknowledges that while Alli and Dembélé did excusable things, everyone in the team can learn from these mistakes.
“It’s impossible not to speak about the incident with him [Mousa Dembélé],” Pochettino said (quotes from the Guardian).
“If you play with your friends for the honour or a beer or food, you want to win. Sometimes, when you run a lot and you’re under stress, you can cross the line.”
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“If you cross the line, Mousa knows you need to pay, like Dele Alli did. This happens in football. We cannot justify it but we can understand it.”
“What happened on the pitch, for me, should stay on the pitch. Our business is different [these days]. We have a lot of cameras and it’s impossible to keep it on the pitch.”
“All the people who play football know this situation can happen. Maybe we agree in theory that you have to be calm but it’s difficult to apply when you run and contest the title. It’s difficult to keep calm.”
“I am proud of my players. We show big character. Sometimes, we cross the line and if you cross the line, you need to pay. It’s a good lesson for us that we need to learn a lot for next season. I’m sure we will be more strong next season.”
Yes, Tottenham did cross the line with some untimely challenges and off the ball incidents involving Dele Alli (against West Brom), Érik Lamela, Mousa Dembélé, Danny Rose and Michel Vorm against Chelsea last Monday but this shows that Spurs are no longer a “soft team”.
Mauricio Pochettino has heard the stories and has grown tired of what people say about his club, and although there were more negatives that came out of the Chelsea-Tottenham match — which saw Spurs have nine players booked for a Premier League record — it shows that Tottenham won’t be an easy opponent to play against next season.
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“It is a good improvement,” Pochettino said. “I hear in the last few years that, in the past, Tottenham were soft but now, we start to show character. We cross the line maybe, yes. I’m not stupid. It’s important to manage better our energy for the next season and be sure we learn a lot.”
“This season, we have showed we are not a nice team to play. Not anymore. Our opponents don’t like to play against us. We showed passion. Maybe too much passion. But we need to take it in a positive way. We need to manage it in a better way and try to win the title [next season].”
“If you want to win titles and keep your position for a long time in the future, you need to show passion. I understand my players and my staff and my supporters. This is football. We need to congratulate Leicester, they deserve it, they were the best team. And we need to learn and improve and fight again for the title. If you want to be a contender for the Premier League, some things like this happen.”