Ollie Watkins: Aston Villa star should be banned after ‘going out to hurt’ Leeds player – pundit
Noel Whelan has insisted Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins could have been sent off for an “unsafe” tackle on Leeds United defender Luke Ayling and be facing a three-match ban.
The former Leeds forward, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, slammed the 26-year-old for “going out to hurt another player”.
Watkins received a yellow card for the challenge and the incident did not appear to be looked at closely by VAR.
The striker played the full 90 minutes en route to a 3-0 win for the Villans.
Assessing the footage of the tackle (Amazon Prime, 10 March, 20:28), Whelan insisted the decision could “easily” have been overturned by VAR.
Whelan told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “Look, there’s no doubt it’s a very rash challenge. He’s obviously gone in there and it’s an unsafe challenge, in my opinion.
“It’s a challenge where he has gone out there to hurt another player.
“I’d like to keep the physicality in the game. I think the fact that it has come back into the game and things that are allowed to go on is for the best for the football world. People like to see that sort of aggression and challenge.
“But at the same time, when you look back on that one, I think that could have gone either way. If it had been assessed by VAR, it very easily could have been looked at by the referee. It could have been a red.
“It’s very difficult for referees to get it right. You want to let the game flow, you want to keep everybody on the field.
“But at the same time, you have got to protect the players as well from challenges like that.”
In other news, Alan Hutton blown away by what ex-Aston Villa teammates have told him about Philippe Coutinho.