Tottenham to Lodge Formal Complaint Over Bogle Escape as Tel Faces Spell Out

Tottenham will write to refereeing body Pro Ref to demand an explanation for Jayden Bogle staying on the pitch after a studs-up challenge that forced Mathys Tel off injured, the Press Association reports. The complaint follows Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Leeds, where Bogle caught Tel high on the Achilles in the 34th minute and VAR decided the challenge was reckless rather than serious foul play. Spurs believe the decision clashes with the red card Jean-Philippe Mateta received for a similar challenge on Micky van de Ven a week earlier, a dismissal the FA has since upheld on appeal.

What happened at Elland Road?

Leeds won the game 1-0 through Noah Okafor’s second-half goal, but the match turned on the 34th minute. Bogle lunged into a first-half tackle on Tel and landed on the forward’s ankle with his left foot, the Press Association reports, catching him high on the Achilles with his studs. Referee John Brooks awarded a foul to Spurs but showed no card of any colour, and the full-back faced no further punishment. Tel received treatment on the pitch, came back on, and was then replaced by Dominic Solanke after 43 minutes because of the lingering effects on his Achilles. It was Tottenham’s fourth Premier League defeat of the season, and the game finished 11 against 11.

Why did VAR let Bogle stay on?

Because the official in the room judged the challenge reckless rather than dangerous. VAR Tony Harrington looked at the incident in detail for around four minutes, Yardbarker reports, and decided against sending Brooks to the pitchside monitor. The Premier League Match Centre later published the audio of the conversation between the two officials, with Harrington saying: “I’m confirming the on-field decision of no red card. There’s a lack of speed going into the challenge and he’s stepping into the tackle. Confirming a reckless challenge.” That is the line the whole row turns on. A reckless challenge carries a yellow card at most, while serious foul play brings a red, and Harrington put Bogle’s tackle on the lighter side of it. Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann, speaking to the BBC, disagreed in plain terms: “Bogle’s challenge meets the criteria for serious foul play as he endangers the safety of an opponent. He can consider himself lucky to still be on the pitch.” It is the same split the desk saw when a headbutt went unpunished at Brentford, where two former officials read the same pictures differently.

Why does the Mateta red card matter so much?

Because it is the same challenge with the opposite outcome, seven days apart. A week earlier, in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off for a rash sliding tackle that caught Micky van de Ven on the Achilles, the Press Association reports. Referee Michael Oliver originally gave a yellow card, then upgraded it to red after a VAR review. Palace appealed the dismissal, the FA rejected the appeal, and Mateta is now serving a three-match suspension. Spurs may cite that red card in their complaint, the Independent reports, because the two challenges landed in the same area of the ankle and only one of them was punished. The comparison got sharper still at Elland Road, where Pedro Porro was booked for a challenge similar to Bogle’s, a yellow that infuriated De Zerbi. The weekend’s other VAR row ended with a goal standing and a director of football disputing it in public, which is the same pattern: a review that leaves one club convinced the officials applied the same law two different ways.

How bad is Tel’s injury?

Bad enough that his manager had no positive news to share at full time. “Bad injury and now we have to make the medical check, and the next day we will know what is the problem,” De Zerbi told reporters, the Press Association reports. Tel has scored one goal in 10 games so far this season, Sports Mole reports, and he had been called up to the France Under-21 squad for November fixtures against Italy and England. He will now almost certainly have to pull out of that selection. Spurs do not play again until they host Ipswich Town on November 21, after the international break, which gives Tel two weeks before the next game tests whether he can return. A hair-pull red card at Villarreal cost Vinicius the El Clasico build-up in the same way, with the ban, not the tackle, deciding the player’s next month.

What did De Zerbi actually say?

He refused to criticise the decision in public, and that refusal is part of the story. “We have full confidence in the referee and VAR. I cannot say nothing more,” De Zerbi told BBC Match of the Day, the Press Association reports. He said the same thing in his post-game press conference, adding that he could not explain the call because he had not seen the incident clearly. But he was more open about the other card of the afternoon, telling reporters he was surprised by the yellow for Porro: “I was surprised on the yellow card for Pedro Porro because it was clear. The potential red card, I couldn’t say.” The club’s letter to Pro Ref will say what its manager would not. Gravenberch’s red card at Liverpool split the verdicts the same way, with one yellow called harsh and the second called clear, and the argument there was also about consistency rather than the law itself.

What happens next?

The Key Match Incidents Panel will review the Bogle challenge in the coming days, Yardbarker reports, while Tottenham await an explanation from Pro Ref. The complaint is about the process rather than a new punishment for Bogle, who has already escaped any sanction in the match itself. Tel’s medical check decides how long Spurs are without him, and the international break means the next test of the decision comes on November 21, when Spurs host Ipswich. The Havertz penalty that was not given at Hull turned on the same distinction, between being in an offside position and committing an offside offence, and the referee there also explained the call to the crowd. Tottenham’s letter asks for the same kind of explanation, in writing, for a challenge that left their forward on the treatment table.

Update, November 9: Three more voices say red, and De Zerbi gets a ban

Update note (November 9, 2026): This article covered Tottenham’s formal complaint, the VAR audio and the Mateta comparison. The weekend’s punditry has now weighed in, and the manager has picked up his own punishment.

The officials’ verdict is now outnumbered three to one, and the one is the official. Dermot Gallagher, the former Premier League referee, agreed with Mike Dean on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch on Monday morning that Bogle should have been sent off, football.london reports. “I think it is a red card; he is extremely lucky,” Gallagher said. “He catches him across the Achilles (tendon), high; we have the directive ‘above the ankle, or Achilles,’ and that falls under that line.” Dean had said it live on Soccer Saturday in even shorter terms: “It is 100% a red; he has caught him right down the back of the Achilles. It is not a good tackle at all.” Steven Gerrard, speaking on TNT Sports, added that if the referee had been told to go to the screen he would have given a red card, Sky Sports reports, and that the contact was dangerous and high risk to injure an opponent.

The dissenting voice on the panel was not a referee but a former player. Jay Bothroyd, speaking on Ref Watch alongside Gallagher, said he did not want to see red cards for challenges like this one, football.london reports, because they are accidental: players are trying to put their foot somewhere, the ball moves, and they have to push off. That is the same line Leeds boss Daniel Farke took after the game, telling TNT Sports that Bogle never does a foul out of bad intention and calling him “my butterfly” and “probably the softest player in the whole league”, Sky Sports reports. Farke said he had not watched the incident back and wished Tel a quick recovery.

The one punishment the weekend did produce landed on the manager, not the player. De Zerbi was booked at Elland Road for his frustration over Pedro Porro’s second-half caution, which he had called “incredible”, and he will now serve a one-game touchline ban when Spurs return to action after the international break against Ipswich at home on November 21, Sky Sports reports. The complaint to Pro Ref is still awaiting an answer, the Key Match Incidents Panel has yet to rule, and no outcome from Tel’s medical check has been reported. The weekend’s other VAR row ended the same way, with a goal standing and a club disputing it in public, and the pattern is now the story: the officials who were in the room stand alone against the officials who were watching it on television.