Same referee, same studs-up tackle, opposite verdicts: why Tottenham are writing to Pro Ref about Leeds’ wing-back

Tottenham are going to Pro Ref over the challenge that ended Mathys Tel’s afternoon at Elland Road, and the club have a fair point: the same referee, John Brooks, sent off one of their own players for a very similar tackle less than a year ago.

Jayden Bogle landed on Tel’s left Achilles shortly before half-time in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Leeds, the Frenchman tried to carry on and then signalled that he couldn’t. After a VAR check that lasted around four minutes, Bogle stayed on the pitch, and he wasn’t even booked.

Noah Okafor’s late winner decided the game, as we covered in our Leeds 1-0 Tottenham report. But the conversation in N17 since then has been about one decision, and about whether Tottenham Hotspur are being judged by a different rulebook.

Why wasn’t Jayden Bogle sent off?

The Premier League’s Match Centre explained it on X: “The referee’s call of no red card to Bogle for the challenge on Tel was checked and confirmed by VAR.”

The VAR’s reasoning, as the Match Centre quoted it, was this: “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.” It ended with “Confirming a reckless challenge.”

That last line is the strange part. A reckless challenge is a yellow card in the laws of the game, yet Bogle didn’t see one. So either the tackle was a booking that never came, or the explanation doesn’t match what happened on the pitch. Spurs are entitled to ask which it is.

How bad is the Mathys Tel injury?

Tel was later seen on crutches and in a protective boot. Roberto De Zerbi said more checks are needed, but the first fear inside the club is a bad injury, and the forward could be out for a long time.

That is the real cost here. Spurs lose a player for weeks, maybe months, and the player who caused it faces no punishment at all.

Same referee, same kind of tackle, different answer

This is where the Tottenham anger comes from. In December 2025, Brooks refereed Spurs’ 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool. He first showed Xavi Simons a yellow for a studs-up challenge on Virgil van Dijk, then the VAR, Stuart Attwell, sent him to the pitchside monitor, and Brooks upgraded it to a red for serious foul play. Brooks told the crowd that Simons had caught Van Dijk on the calf with his studs.

Cristian Romero was sent off late in that game too, and Spurs finished with nine men.

Put the two incidents side by side and the line between them is very hard to see. Studs on the back of the leg, a player going down hurt, a long VAR look. One ended with a monitor review and a red card; the other ended with nothing. If Simons’ tackle was a red, Bogle’s was a red. If Bogle’s wasn’t, it’s hard to explain why Simons missed three games.

Is there a pattern with John Brooks?

Spurs fans will tell you there is, and the mood online since Saturday has gone well past frustration. We wouldn’t go as far as suggesting bias. What we would say is that consistency is the whole point of VAR, and two very similar challenges involving the same club and the same referee have produced opposite outcomes. That’s a fair thing for the club to put in writing.

What did De Zerbi say about the decision?

De Zerbi was careful not to make it about the referee. Asked whether he wanted Brooks to go to the monitor, he said: “No, I have big confidence in the referee.”

He added: “Nothing changes if he goes to watch the clip or not. I think there was the VAR, and if they didn’t take the right decision, I don’t know. But we have confidence, we have to keep our eyes on the performance where we can improve.”

He was booked himself for his reaction on the touchline, which brings a touchline ban for the home game against Ipswich after the international break. He also admitted the decision was not the reason Spurs lost, saying the team lost control after Tel went off.

Verdict: the complaint is right, but it isn’t the whole story

Tottenham are right to write to Pro Ref. Not because a letter will change the result, but because the explanation given on Saturday doesn’t hold together, and the Simons decision last December makes it look worse.

But De Zerbi is right as well. Spurs were roughly level in the first half and poor after the break, and Leeds were the better side for most of the second half. Losing Tel hurt the shape, yet a team with Spurs’ ambitions has to find a way back without him. We looked at the midfield problem in our piece on whether Conor Gallagher should be sold in January, and Saturday didn’t settle that debate either.

The international break gives Spurs two weeks to stew on it. The best answer is three points against Ipswich, with or without De Zerbi on the touchline.