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‘If I’d have done that in the mid-90s’ – Sean Dyche aims dig at Kane after Doucoure red

Sean Dyche couldn’t resist making a comment about Tottenham striker Harry Kane and his reaction to the incident that resulted in Abdoulaye Doucoure being sent off, writes the RBM.

While Doucoure was rightfully dismissed for striking Kane in the face, the England captain made a theatrical show of falling to the ground in order to draw the referee’s attention to the incident.

Dyche went on to compare the attention given to the Kane incident, which included concussion testing, to that of Michael Keane’s red card following a dangerous challenge from Lucas Moura. The Everton manager believes that such gamesmanship is now commonplace in football.

“Doucoure certainly doesn’t need to apologise. At the end of the day he knows you can’t raise your hands.

“I thought at one point he might have snapped his [Kane’s] eyelash, which would have been tragic, but he seemed to be responding OK.”

“The strange thing about football, the following of football, the rules and the governing bodies, is that on one night you have a player who, in theory, is very close to getting a broken ankle and nothing is said, and another gets a broken eyelash and it’s like the world is going to end.

“There is an undercurrent of fans who are like: ‘Oh come on, really?’ and just want to get on with the game, but everyone has become so precious. The rules are so precious, in society as well as football. It was a big drama over nothing, although I was worried when they concussion tested him. I thought: ‘Wow, this could be a close one’.

“I think the in-house view of things is strange in football now. What do you think my teammates would have thought of me if I’d have done that in the mid-90s? They’d have laughed at me. But now they don’t. Millions of kids see footballers cheat every week, diving all over the place, and no one says a word. Someone gets flicked in the eyelash and it becomes a big situation. That’s just the way it is now.”

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