Tottenham boss Pochettino: This is what I think about Dembele's eye-gouging incident
MAURICIO POCHETTINO admits his players “may have crossed the line” on Monday night but says circumstances must be taken into account when considering the eye-gouging incident involving Mousa Dembele.
Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham to contest Mousa Dembele's FA charge for eye-gouging incident
The Tottenham head coach confirmed Dembele accepts the fact that he had committed an act of violent conduct in the 43rd minute when he clashed with Diego Costa.
However, together with the club, they are contesting the FA’s suggestion that the standard punishment of a three-match ban is too lenient a punishment.
The impetus is now on the FA to convince a disciplinary commission that the act was a “truly exceptional circumstance” and that the standard punishment is “clearly insufficient”.
Should they do so, then Dembele could be liable to a ban of up to 10 matches – Tottenham would then have a right to appeal but only to reduce the suspension to six matches.
But Pochettino felt that Dembele’s action was no different to the punch by Dele Alli on West Brom’s Claudio Yacob a week earlier which earned him the standard three-match ban.
“Sometimes when you want to win and you are disappointed you cross the line but it was our first experience of fighting for the league and we need to learn from that.
“I hear always in the last two years that people say Tottenham are soft, something like this. But we have started to show character.
“Maybe we crossed the line, I am not stupid, we need to manage our energy for next season. For sure we will learn a lot for next season.
“I think it shows that we are not a nice team to play. Not any more. Our opponent doesn’t like to play against us any more. Because we show passion. But we need to keep but to manage in a better way to try to win the title.
“Great teams are like this. If you want to win the title and keep your position for a long time for the future you need to show passion.”
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