Ao Tanaka of Leeds United is challenged by Kellen Fisher and Jack Stacey of Norwich City during the Sky Bet Championship match. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Leeds went top of the Championship table on Wednesday after victory over Norwich, although the game was not without incident as Ao Tanaka should have seen red, says former PGMOL boss, Keith Hackett.
Daniel Farke will surely be delighted with victory against one of his former bosses as it keeps the Whites top of England’s second tier, with one of the games of the season to come.
Ao Tanaka should have been sent off, says Keith Hackett
Leeds travel to Burnley in their next game, and the result of that game could go some way to determining how serious their promotion aspirations are.
Farke expects a meeting at Elland Road with a specific player, while Willy Gnonto is expected to move to Saudi Arabia in order to give a specific boost to the club’s coffers.
It is clearly a major juggling act for the manager to do in order to keep the club competitive as we approach the 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 was worthy of a second yellow, which did not come.
This clearly irritated former PGMOL boss Keith Hackett.
Leeds were lucky to have Ao Tanaka on the pitch
“Tanaka should have received a second yellow for this reckless challenge“, he said ITV Leeds News.
“Well done to their manager, Farke.
“He witnessed what had happened and discreetly did the right thing to prevent his team from going down to ten men.”
While solid challenges must continue to be a part of the game, especially in the Championship where every game is competitive, referees must crack down harder on those tackles that put an opponent in danger.
