Gaston Ramirez's sending off for Hull against Tottenham wasn't even a booking, says Jamie Carragher

Gaston Ramirez’s game-changing dismissal for Hull City that enabled Tottenham’s come-from-behind victory was unjust, according to Jamie Carragher.

The Uruguay midfielder was given a straight red card for an off-the-ball clash with Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen in the 50th minute when Hull led 1-0.

It was never a sending off, it wasn’t even a booking. I always think what do rugby lads think watching football! There’s a tangle of legs and a smack on the backside!

Playing against 10 men, Tottenham overcame Jake Livermore’s opening goal through Harry Kane’s equaliser and Christian Eriksen’s last-gasp winner – but Carragher insists the critical moment was unfair.

He said: “It was never a sending off, it wasn’t even a booking. I always think 'what do rugby lads think watching football?' There’s a tangle of legs and a smack on the backside!

“It’s nothing, it’s not a yellow card in my opinion. The linesman sent him off.

“If you’re the referee or linesman you say ‘get up both of you, get on with it, play on’. It’s obviously cost them the game.

“Spurs had a similar situation with Aston Villa, Christian Benteke deserved to be sent off.”

Fellow Sky Sports pundit Chris Coleman agreed that Ramirez should not have been dismissed yet claimed that Hull team-mate Livermore could have been red carded.

“There was a tackle later on in the game that was a sending off,” he said. “Afterwards, Livermore should have got a second booking for a challenge and he wasn’t. That’s where referees don’t help themselves – sent Ramirez off for nothing, then there’s a tackle that should have been a sending off and nothing happened.”

Not easy

Carragher insisted that, despite Hull playing 40 minutes with a player less, the match was far from a foregone conclusion.

“From Spurs’ point of view, Hull were down to 10 men,” he continued. “But it’s not easy to play against 10 men, they drop back into two banks of four so you’ve got to give Spurs credit. Twice they’ve been in that situation and they’ve won both games.

“It obviously gives you a big advantage because they were poor in the first half but it’s not easy against 10 men and they’ve won twice.”

Carragher praised the match-winner Eriksen who regularly looked like Tottenham’s most creative influence.

“He was the one player you thought could do something. Even went Hull went to 10 men he was the one pulling the strings, always on the ball, always involved, looking to probe and find space.”