Roy Keane labeled Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon as “daft” after the England winger was sent off during the Magpies FA Cup tie.
The 24-year-old will serve a three-match ban, meaning he’ll miss the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool, after Gordon, frustrated after a penalty appeal was denied, lashed out at Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke shoving him to the ground, leading him to pick up a red card for violent conduct.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was dealt another blow after striker Alexander Isak seemed to pick up an injury and was spotted limping down the tunnel after he was substituted shortly after Gordon’s red card.
Keane shared his honest thoughts on Gordon’s red card incident while speaking to ITV Football. The pundit took a sympathetic tone, acknowledging that he had made similar mistakes on the pitch himself.
Keane said: “There was an incident about maybe one or two minutes before that, it’s obviously frustrating, it’s a moment of madness – I do feel for him, listen I’ve done daft stuff on a football pitch. He’s got to take his medicine now, he’s going to be punished with the suspension, he’s obviously an intelligent lad, he just – yeah it is frustration we see it. I’m not going to be too harsh on him, it’s daft, he’ll have to take his medicine.”
On what the Magpies need to do next, Keane added: “The test for this group is how they recover from it. Since they got there when they beat Arsenal three weeks ago their form has not been great. Gordon gets sent off, maybe one or two injuries, this is a test for this group now.”
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Howe was asked about Gordon’s red card and whether Newcastle would appeal ahead of their upcoming final. He said the club would “possibly” appeal, as the decision seemed “harsh” on first viewing, and shared Gordon’s reaction afterwards.
Howe said: “Well it looks harsh but we’ll have to analyse it properly – I’ve not seen a replay of it, I’m just going on my original view. I thought it looked harsh but we’ll see and see what we do next.”
Then asked if he would appeal the decision, Howe replied: “Possibly.” Howe was then asked whether he believed Gordon lost control of his emotions in that moment.
He added: “I don’t know, I think I’d need to see it again properly to see exactly what happened. It was just a mass of bodies on my first viewing – Anthony obviously didn’t mean any harm. I’ve only seen him very briefly before coming out to you and yeah he was really disappointed.”
