Thomas Frank, the manager of Brentford, has called for an end to football’s dark arts after Ivan Toney missed his first penalty in almost five years. Toney, an England international, had a 29th-minute effort saved by Newcastle keeper Nick Pope before netting a second spot-kick just before half-time during his team’s 2-1 defeat. Frank expressed his unhappiness with the behaviour of Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall and said that every time Brentford had a penalty, someone had tried to get inside Toney’s head. He suggested that referees need to be aware of this and that instead of trying to think of a strategy to protect him from the abuse, we should ask where the sportsmanship is.
Frank further added that the penalty decision had been made, so why not have a man-to-man duel between the keeper and the striker instead of all that mental stuff? He said that the ball moved just before Toney took the penalty, so maybe there was a bit of doubt that affected him. However, it took a lot of mental strength for him to put the second one in the back of the net. Frank was also unhappy with Tindall’s behaviour as the visitors claimed all three points with goals from Joelinton and Alexander Isak.
Frank said that they were deliberately more active towards the fourth official because they knew that Newcastle had that strategy. Tindall always speaks in the fourth official’s ear throughout the game, and they needed to be aware of that. He added that Brentford went toe-to-toe with Newcastle and did to them what no other team had done this season. They missed a penalty, had a goal disallowed or a marginal offside and could have been 3-0 up at half-time.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said that today was a huge moment in their season. They needed incredible character to come back like that, and they have proved time and again that they have the energy and fight in them. However, he wasn’t happy with substitute Anthony Gordon’s furious reaction to being replaced in the final minute of stoppage time. He said that Anthony is a passionate boy who wants to do well, and he has no problem with that. But he needs to control his emotions. He was holding his ankle, and they wanted to get the experience of Matt Ritchie on for the final 30 seconds. It was no reflection on Anthony’s performance.
In conclusion, Thomas Frank has called for an end to football’s dark arts after Ivan Toney missed his first penalty in almost five years. He expressed his unhappiness with the behaviour of Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall and said that every time Brentford had a penalty, someone had tried to get inside Toney’s head. Frank suggested that referees need to be aware of this and that instead of trying to think of a strategy to protect him from the abuse, we should ask where the sportsmanship is. He further added that the penalty decision had been made, so why not have a man-to-man duel between the keeper and the striker instead of all that mental stuff?