Tottenham Hotspur made it three wins out of three in the Europa League as they ran out 1-0 winners over AZ on Thursday.
It wasn’t a vintage performance from Spurs, but they got the job done against the Eredivisie side thanks to Richarlison’s penalty.
The Brazil international, making his first start of the season for Tottenham, confidently struck a panenka down the middle to beat the AZ keeper.
Prior to the penalty, Richarlison was seen arguing with James Maddison over who would take the spot kick.
Maddison, who captained Spurs on the night, ultimately allowed the £175,000-a-week forward to have a go, and he delivered.
However, Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle and former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy didn’t like what they saw from Richarlison.
Richarlison criticised for taking the ball off James Maddison
Hoddle, speaking to TNT Sports after the game, felt it was a “bit unprofessional” for Richarlison to take the ball off Maddison.
“The fact Richarlison scored is great and that is difference between winning the game,” he began, as per BBC Sport. “But I don’t know, it is a bit unprofessional.
“If he’s taken off or he’s injured then there might be a scenario where you leave it to the players, but it only works out if you score.”
Meanwhile, Murphy told talkSPORT: “It’s not good, and Ange needs to nip that in the bud. You don’t want that. I don’t like it at all.”
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What James Maddison and Ange Postecoglou made of Richarlison actions
Maddison, speaking to the press at full-time, didn’t seem overly concerned about what happened.
“Initially we both wanted to take it,” he said. “I’m a senior player, I was captain today, I was going to take it, but I thought Richarlison has come back from an injury, it’s difficult for a striker – a first goal gives confidence.
“It was a split second decision to let him take it. [It’s] leadership, obviously I wore the armband but even if I wasn’t the captain I would still like to think I would make a decision that is best for the team. Hopefully that gives him a big boost.”
Meanwhile, Postecoglou simply said: “As long as they score mate I couldn’t care less. As long as they work that out.”
That said, this is what they said publicly for the cameras. Whether anything else was said behind the scenes is up for debate.
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