Manchester City’s James Trafford had an afternoon to forget after Pep Guardiola decided to keep him in the starting lineup ahead of Ederson.
City lost 2-0 as Tottenham entered a five-way title race while Guardiola’s side looked as though they had reverted worryingly to their 2024-25 selves after an impressive opening day victory over Wolves.
Brennan Johnson opened the scoring after Richarlison beat the offside trap before squaring the ball for his Welshman in the 35th minute, and Spurs doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, in large part thanks to a poor pass out from the back by Trafford.
Nico Gonzalez shouldn’t have been showing for the ball, but that doesn’t excuse Trafford’s poorly directed pass, which was pounced on by Pape Matar Sarr before Joao Palhinha’s deflected shot found the back of the net.
And many fans watching the game will have been thinking Trafford was lucky still to be on the pitch after racing out of his goal to deny Mohammed Kudus moments before.
After Kudus controlled the bouncing ball with his chest, Trafford appeared to handle the ball outside his box and caught the Ghana international high on the chest with his knee.
Kudus was left prostrate on the pitch as City regained possession as a free-kick was not awarded to Spurs and Trafford went unpunished.
Some on social media have suggested Trafford’s knee to Kudus’ chest was the aspect of the incident deserving punishment, but the BBC focused on the potential handball in their explanation of the lack of intervention from VAR.
The report states:
‘While all incidents are looked at in the VAR room, only those deemed worthy of an intervention are reviewed by the on-field referee.
‘BBC Sport understands that PGMOL, the Premier League refereeing body, felt there was not a case for the VAR to intervene as Trafford’s hands were down by his side and because of the proximity of his body to the incident.
‘Secondly, a goalkeeper handling the ball outside the box is not an automatic red card.
‘There are a number of considerations that the referee (or the VAR) must take, such as whether the goalkeeper had denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, the distance between the offence and the goal, the direction of play, and the location and number of defenders around the incident.’
After the game, former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock asked “why don’t players want to move to Spurs?”
He added: “A brilliant stadium, brilliant facilities, brilliant manager, and Champions League football.
“This is a man [Thomas Frank] who has deserved this opportunity for a long time.
“The Premier League is tough enough and to do it with the budget Brentford had, I always thought he would succeed.”