Speaking on TNT, Peter Crouch argued that Kudus failed to control himself during the challenge with Dutch defender Van de Ven.
“Completely lost his head,” Crouch said. “I think Van de Ven did well to not react, because he stamped on him a couple of times before, tried to kick the ball at him, stood on him a couple of times, and then he gets a slap in the face.
“Richarlison goes down, somehow, it’s all kicking off. He had to go. It was a complete loss of his head.”
Kudus was the main architect of a melee in West Ham’s defeat to Tottenham on Saturday, October 19, 2024.
The forward was given a straight red for violent conduct after kicking Van de Ven and slapping Pape Matar Sarr in the 86th minute.
Former Spurs midfielder Glenn Hoddle commended referee Andy Madley for how he handled the situation, noting that Kudus gave him no option.
“He had to go in the end, didn’t he? It was the third or the fourth slap and the referees looked at it. I think the referee wanted to be sensible and not send anyone off because you have to have eyes on the back of your head there to see everything that’s going on.
“So he’s thought, I haven’t seen it 100% so I’ll give a yellow, then VAR goes ‘you have a look at what he’s done,’ and he’s given him no option.
“If players do that with VAR you’re going to get sent off.”
Kudus will miss three games as a result of the red card.
