Alan Shearer gives Man United red card verdict after rare footage review for Cristian Romero

Alan Shearer has backed referee Michael Oliver’s decision to send off Cristian Romero during Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, with BBC Match of the Day showing rare referee camera footage of the challenge on Casemiro

Former Premier League forward Alan Shearer has supported referee Michael Oliver’s decision to dismiss Cristian Romero during Manchester United’s win over Tottenham.

The sending off occurred following a poorly executed tackle by the defender on Casemiro early in the match, with the referee promptly showing him the red card.

This proved to be a pivotal moment in the match for both Spurs and United, as goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes led to another victory for Michael Carrick – his fourth in as many games as interim boss.

While some might argue that Romero was merely running towards the ball and was unlucky to collide with Casemiro in the manner he did, Shearer is of the opinion that the right call was made, as BBC’s Match of the Day aired rare footage from the referee’s camera during the incident.

“Absolutely, Michael Oliver gets it absolutely right,” stated the former England striker. “You can’t tackle like that in today’s game.

“He [Romer] has got to show better leadership, and he’s said what he’s said in whatever post he has done on Instagram or whatever it was on, but leaders are the ones who perform for the team and make others around them better.

“Now, he’s going to be missing for four games, and Tottenham just do not need that. But absolutely, it is a red card.”

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The referee’s camera footage provided some perspective on the incident at full speed, illustrating just how difficult it can be to make those split-second judgements. That said, it seems on this occasion Oliver made the correct decision, though that will offer little consolation to Thomas Frank.

Casemiro was fortunate to avoid picking up a serious injury after the collision, but continued on to help United on towards another important victory.

With four wins from four under Carrick, the team are full of confidence and pushing on towards a possible top-four finish in the Premier League, earning a route back into the Champions League.

“It’s a tricky one, we’ve seen all sorts of different things happen from playing against ten men over the years,” the interim head coach told the press after the win over Tottenham.

“The first goal is normally vital to get ahead, but I think it was just encouraging the expression, the attacking play, and not so much the enjoyment where you can do what you want and it’s a playground with kind of tricks and flicks, but more playing with a purpose, but really the confidence.

“The first goal ends up coming from a really well-worked corner. There’s different ways to get that goal, but the boys pulled it off really well.

“Credit to Jonny Evans and Kaita [Hasegawa] who kind of put that together and worked with the boys over the few days of having that day. So there’s different ways you can break teams down but fortunately for us today, we managed to pull it off.”

Attention quickly turns towards Tuesday night as Man United are back in Premier League action, taking on relegation-threatened West Ham in London.

It’ll mark an opportunity to solidify a place in the top four, while registering five wins in a row for the club under the guidance of Carrick.