Sunday 19 April 2015 22:49, UK
West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate intentionally used his elbow on Manchester City midfielder David Silva, say the Sky Sports pundits.
Kouyate was booked for the challenge as Silva was taken off on a stretcher after several minutes of treatment during the second half.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side won the game 2-0 thanks to a James Collins own goal and Sergio Aguero’s finish 10 minutes before the break, but the post-match concerns were all for the Spain midfielder.
Kouyate appeared to put his hand up in apology after catching Silva, but Niall Quinn told Super Sunday the 25-year-old knew what he was doing.
“Having seen the replay I must say that it was a nasty challenge,” he said.
“Obviously we have the benefit of sharper replays and you see he comes down on to his face with the power of his elbow. That’s not good.
“I’m not going to stand here and defend that as a mistake, as an accident. If I’m asked to give my opinion, I think there’s intent there.”
“The important thing is David Silva, because it didn’t look good for him at all. Our thoughts are with him and we don’t know exactly how he is yet.”
Glenn Hoddle agreed with Quinn’s view, saying the angle of Kouyate’s arm was a sign of intent from the Senegal international.
“Very dangerous. There’s intent, I agree,” he said.
“He’s actually come down – he knows he’s taller. When you hold a player off it’s normally with a straight arm but he’s gone with a bent arm and he’s come down to make contact.
“It should have been a red card, but obviously we hope the lad’s going to be OK.”
Jamie Carragher was surprised to see the midfielder only pick up a yellow card and, while admitting there’s no way of proving intent, the pundit feels the video evidence looks damning.
“I think [the FA] will be looking at it. No one knows [if there was intent], only him,” he said.
“It was like Diego Costa when he stamped on Martin Skrtel – no one can say 100 per cent. Only he will know.
“You know when you’ve played the game that there’s certain challenges, or when you’re running past someone, you think ‘I can get away with this, no one can actually prove that I meant it’, and I think he’s gone past just thinking ‘I can leave one on Silva there and put my hands up, I didn’t mean it’.
“It doesn’t look good. It should’ve been a red card.”
