Danny Murphy Issues Crass Take on Jed Steer Incident

talkSPORT and BBC pundit Danny Murphy has issued a crass take on the incident which saw Dwight Gayle sent off in the Play-Off Semi-Final first leg for a foul on Aston Villa goalkeeper Jed Steer, dubbing the Villa stopper as “pathetic”.

Talking on Jim White’s daily show this morning, Murphy said:

“The goalkeeper was pathetic, rolling about when he was hardly touched.

Gayle didn’t do anything. He pulled out. He tried to move his leg out of the way. He moved his boot.

The rolling about from the silly keeper and the noise from the crowd caused the referee to guess.”

Whilst Dwight Gayle’s collision seemed more clumsy than intentional, the striker had been walking a very thin line for much of the game after being booked for time wasting and warned about simulation on a number of occasions. His foul on Jed Steer was simply the icing on the cake.

Gayle has every right to challenge for the ball, it’s pretty much a 50-50 situation, and on a second look, it could have been much worse had he not attempted to fix his course – and could have caused more pain to Steer due to the momentum alone. 

However, the fact is – regardless of the intent – the fact is that Gayle challenged for a ball and hurt an opposition player in the process. It was a yellow card, and would have been regardless of whether it was his first or second in the game. It just so happened to be his second, and saw him dismissed from the pitch.

Murphy is wrong to call out Jed Steer, and even more so to refer to him as “pathetic”. Trying to stop a challenge won’t be taken into account if the challenge is still the outcome. The fact is that Gayle challenged for a ball, hit the Villa ‘keeper, and received his punishment for it after antagonising the officials and Aston Villa defenders throughout the game.

It’s not the first time Murphy has been outspoken this year, having criticised former Villa manager Steve Bruce for not taking the mantle at Sheffield Wednesday until the start of February.