According to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee Keith Hackett, Tottenham Hotspur defender Pedro Porro was extremely fortunate to avoid being sent off during his side\u2019s 3-0 victory over Everton on Sunday, 26 October. Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Hackett criticised referee Craig Pawson for failing to take action against what he described as a \u201cdangerous\u201d challenge that could have warranted a red card.<\/p>\n
The match at the Hill Dickinson Stadium was not without controversy. Early in the game, Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye appeared to be fouled in the penalty area after a coming together with Mohammed Kudus, but referee Craig Pawson waved away the appeals. Many inside the stadium believed that the Toffees had been wronged, with replays suggesting that contact was sufficient for a spot-kick.<\/p>\n
Tottenham went on to take full advantage, with Micky van de Ven scoring twice and Pape Sarr adding a third to seal a comfortable win. The result lifted the Lilywhites into third place in the Premier League table, marking their fifth victory in nine league outings. However, Hackett suggested that the game could have unfolded very differently if Pawson and VAR had dealt appropriately with Porro\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n
Following the final whistle, a still image began circulating widely on social media, showing Porro clattering into an Everton player with his studs raised and making contact high up the leg \u2014 far above the ankle. Despite the clear view provided by television cameras, there was no VAR intervention, and the Spanish full-back escaped without even a booking.<\/p>\n
Hackett expressed disappointment at the lack of punishment and urged officials to take a stronger approach toward such incidents. He argued that the type of challenge made by Porro has become more common in recent months and warned that it represents a growing danger to player safety.<\/p>\n
> \u201cI wanted to touch on this because it\u2019s really important,\u201d Hackett told Football Insider. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing more of a stamping motion in challenges, and referees are too often assuming the player is just trying to win the ball. The problem is where the foot lands \u2014 it\u2019s usually on top of the opponent\u2019s boot or around the junction of the leg and ankle. That\u2019s an area where serious injuries happen. Referees have got to stamp this out before it becomes the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to explain that although Porro is not known for being a malicious player \u2014 having collected just five yellow cards and no reds in the Premier League last season \u2014 the intent or outcome of such tackles should not be ignored.<\/p>\n
> \u201cFor me, these challenges endanger the safety of an opponent,\u201d Hackett continued. \u201cWhen that\u2019s the case, it has to be considered serious foul play and punished with a red card. The conservative view might be that it\u2019s only reckless and therefore a yellow, but personally, I\u2019d lean towards red. You cannot ignore this. It\u2019s creeping into the game, and too many referees are being lenient simply because there\u2019s an attempt to play the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hackett concluded that incidents like Porro\u2019s must serve as a wake-up call for referees and the VAR team to take a firmer stance against dangerous play. He emphasised that allowing such tackles to go unpunished sends the wrong message and undermines efforts to protect players from serious injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee Keith Hackett, Tottenham Hotspur defender Pedro Porro was extremely fortunate to avoid being sent off during his side\u2019s 3-0 victory over Everton on Sunday, 26 October. Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Hackett criticised referee Craig Pawson for failing to take action against what he described as a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":53167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Frank-1-750x422-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53168,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53166\/revisions\/53168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}