Port Vale manager Michael Brown had a rather, um, novel explanation as to why his team got tore apart 4-1 by Samuel Saiz and Leeds United last night.
He claimed that Saiz had spit in the face of Port Vale’s right back, Joe Davis.
Michael Brown has accused Samuel Saiz of spitting in Joe Davis' face in the first half. Says he asked Christiansen to take Saiz off at HT.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) August 9, 2017
This is a shocking claim, no doubt. Of course, after the match, Leeds fans went to the tape to determine just how valid the “spitting” claim was. After all, who wants to have a hero that spits on other people?
Just watched from 37-47 mins. Not a single word in anger is said. Davis not upset, no chat with ref. No players annoyed. Zilch.
— IsThatConfirmed (@IsThatConfirmed) August 9, 2017
Curiouser and curiouser. Saiz was only near the Port Vale RB once around the 40th min. Port Vale goal kick. Saiz jogged away. No animosity.
— Simon O'Saiz (@simon_orourke) August 9, 2017
Watched the minutes surrounding the supposed "incident". This is all I saw too, ran into each other for a second but that was all. #lufc https://t.co/WhbN8TBMs9
— Mighty Whites Pod (@mightywhitespod) August 9, 2017
The claim left most Leeds fans confused. After all, if Saiz had spit on one of the Port Vale players, it likely would have been seen by the cameras, the crowd, and the other players. At the very least, one would expect Davis to react to be spit on, but there was absolutely no reaction from Davis towards any Leeds player, much less Saiz, that indicated that he was spit on.
Leeds backed Saiz, saying in a statement “We are disappointed by allegations made following our game with Port Vale last night, we are also disappointed by the treatment of our players throughout the match. Our player denies the allegation and we are confident that the referees report will vindicate him."
There's a report of a Michael Brown complaint of "a dribble" by Leeds Alioski that led to the Gunning dismissal too I now hear #alaw #MOT
— chirpie (@snb7x) August 10, 2017
Michael Brown asking for Leeds' best player on the pitch to be taken off at half time is such a Neil Warnock thing to do #LearntFromTheWorst
— Sean (@seankuk) August 9, 2017
The same Brown who accused Saiz of spitting thought this was a fair tackle. You were crap then and you're full of crap now #LUFC #WACCOE pic.twitter.com/OLbNPxZMxw
— WACCOE (@WaccoeOnline) August 10, 2017
Anyone who watched the match would know exactly what the Leeds spokeman was referring to in the statement about the “treatment” of the Leeds players by the Port Vale players. Vale were lucky to only get one player sent off yesterday, as the strategy in the second half seemed to be to just go out and kick the Leeds players whenever they were only the ball. Saiz bore the brunt of the bad tackles until Alioski came on, and then both of them seemed to be fair game for the overmatched Port Vale footballers. And as our friends at WACCOE pointed out above, the “dirty play” accusation rings fairly hollow from Michael Brown.
So is this all a temper tantrum by a bitter ex-Leeds player? The FA is reportedly investigating the incident, but Brown has already made an excuse as to why nothing will happen, as he said that it wasn’t seen by the refs or the cameras or some other dodgy whining. And the worst part is, instead of headlines about the brilliance of Saiz, everyone is now reading about how he allegedly “spit” on Davis. Anyway, this is enough about the “spitting”. Just go watch the highlights of Saiz’s goals again.