Harry Kane Blasted For "Embarrassing" Role In Abdoulaye Doucoure's Red Card

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher criticized Harry Kane for his role in Abdoulaye Doucoure's red card on Monday night.

Everton midfielder Doucoure was sent off for striking Tottenham forward Kane in the face with his hand during a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.

Carragher, who was an Everton fan as a child, conceded that Doucoure deserved to be expelled from the game.

But Carragher was not happy with what he perceived to be an exaggerated fall by Kane with the intent of grabbing the referee's attention.

"Harry Kane should not be going down for that," Carragher insisted on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football. "He should not be going down.

"It can still be a red card for putting your hand in someone's face. Doucoure is wrong. I'm sure Sean Dyche will tell him that.

"But I wouldn't go down there as a player. There's nowhere near enough to let you go down.

"If I'd done that on the pitch I'd have been embarrassed. If I watched my own son do that... yeah, it might help his team win by getting the opposition down to 10 men. But when he got back in the car, I'd say: 'What were you doing? Don't ever do that again on a football pitch.'"

Harry Kane pictured falling to the ground while holding his face after being struck by Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure

IMAGO/Propaganda Photo/David Rawcliffe

Carragher's opinion was shared by fellow ex-England players Danny Murphy and Chris Sutton.

Murphy said on talkSPORT: "Not enough to send him on the floor, he's embarrassing himself. Why's he gone over like that stitching someone up? Doucoure would've been sent off anyway.

"A little flick to the face does not send you the ground like you've just been punched… but Doucoure's an idiot."

Sutton tweeted: "Harry Kane staying down like that is embarrassing".

But Gary Neville disagreed with Carragher on MNF.

Neville argued that Doucoure appeared to have poked Kane in both of his eyes with his fingers, which might have shocked the England captain.

"I'm going to give Harry the benefit of the doubt, maybe because I know him," said Neville.

"He does dive, don't get me wrong, he does go to ground and he's clever. But my point is that when those nails go in your eye, honestly it can shock you."

But Neville also admitted that Kane's fall to the ground was likely motivated by his desire to see Doucoure get sent off.

"If Harry Kane stands up there, that might have been a yellow card because it could have been deemed as a little hand-off.

"Harry Kane's gone down - whether he should have gone down or not - to make sure Doucoure gets sent off.

"It's a part of the game which people don't like at home but..."

Neville, after attempting to recreate Doucoure's alleged eye-rake on Carragher, then began to talk about how his former Manchester United teammates used to use similar tactics to win at all costs.

However, Doucoure's red card did not result in a Tottenham win.

Kane converted a penalty kick to fire his side ahead 10 minutes after Doucoure's exit.

But, after Lucas Moura had also been sent off, Michael Keane scored a stunning long-range equalizer to earn Everton a point.