Tottenham’s acting head coach Cristian Stellini has hit out at Jamie Carragher and Danny Murphy for the way they have criticised Harry Kane.
Carragher described Kane's decision to stay down as 'embarrassing' after he clashed with Abdoulaye Doucoure during Monday’s 1-1 draw at Goodison Park. The Everton man was dismissed for his role in the incident.
Former Liverpool defender Carragher disagreed with Gary Neville over Kane's response to the incident, while Murphy said the Spurs striker made a meal of the flailing arm. But speaking about the backlash the England captain has received, Stellini defended Kane and said he found criticism of his reaction strange.
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He said: "It’s strange that some ex-players said some things I think wrong about Harry because they’re ex-players and they understand the difference between seeing a situation like this in slow-motion and living this experience in real time.
"It’s completely different. Everton’s manager said it’s a clear red card, so there’s no discussion about this. I don’t understand why some player spoke about this.
"I think they don’t agree with Tottenham, instead of not agreeing with Harry. I think they respect Harry but probably they don’t respect Tottenham enough."
Before he added: "I have never seen him exaggerate something. I have seen him stand up after a strong tackle and we have a lot of examples.
"Also we spoke with the board of referees about some of the tackles Harry received and [some were] really bad.
"Also in the first half last match there was a strong tackle from a central defender but we don’t discuss this and Harry doesn’t discuss this.
"He’s an amazing player in every aspect, also in the behaviour he has and the respect he has. He respects the game a lot. It’s important to say this and everyone has to understand that they cannot challenge Harry on this aspect."
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