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Lorent Tolaj ‘smashes ball out of stadium’ when sent off in Plymouth’s 3-0 loss to Northampton

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Lorent Tolaj ‘smashes ball out of stadium’ when sent off in Plymouth’s 3-0 loss to Northampton

Lorent Tolaj ‘smashes ball out of stadium’ when being sent off in Plymouth’s 3-0 loss to Northampton on Saturday afternoon.

Argyle boss Tom Cleverley said there were no excuses for Tolaj’s straight red card after he reportedly lashed out off the ball at Michael Forbes having grown frustrated with an incident spotted by the linesman.

Tolaj had “completely lost his head” after been targeted and provoked, but the deserved dismissal means he will now miss the next three games.

Cleverley was criticised Tolaj’s behaviour when he left the pitch, appearing to say something to Northampton’s Kevin Nolan and kicked a ball in anger, labelling it disrespectful and another sign he had lost control.

Meanwhile, Cleverley also fumed at Northampton defender Jordan Thorniley avodiing a second yellow (and automatic red) for a clear foul in the first half, describing it as “the most stonewall red card you’ll see all season” and suggesting the referee’s failure to act may have changed the course of the game.

The result sees Plymouth sitting 23rd in league One with 16 points from 17 games played, while Northampton are 14th with 23 points from the same amount of games played.

Cleverley said, per Plymouth Herald, about the red card to Tolaj: “I’m not going to dress this one up, I’m disappointed with him and he knows why. It was something that was addressed at half-time, how they were trying to provoke him.

“He must learn from that. We will have a conversation tomorrow to make sure he does learn from that because he’s an important player for us.

“Today and for the next three games it’s time for Owen Oseni and Bim Pepple to step forward now and give their best version of themselves to the team.

“We have been working hard with them on the training pitch to help them do that but, yeah, really disappointed with Tolly’s actions today. He deserved to be sent-off and he must learn from it.”

Cleverley on Northampton’s approach to Tolaj: “They have done their job. He’s not done his. You want your players to be on the edge, to be on the competitive edge, but that can’t boil over.

“They have probably seen in recent weeks you can get under his skin. They are not the first team to do it and the best thing he can do from this now is learn from it, apologise to his team-mates, and it never happen again in his career.”

On Tolaj’s reaction following the red card: “I will speak to Tolly. I think football players should always be respectful to the opposition manager and he has completely lost his head.

“I hope Tolly is in many more big football games, in big pressure situations, possibly even in the future at top 10 Championship or wherever he may end up, but he needs to keep his head in those hostile environments, under those conditions. Today he didn’t but it should be a big learning curve for him.”

On the 8th minute, referee Stephen Parkinson awarded Northampton a spot-kick for a foul from Bali Mumba on Terry Taylor as the two challenged for the ball inside the penalty area, only to then overturn it after speaking with his assistant.

Kevin Nolan said, per Northampton Chronicle: “You get given a penalty and then after 70, 80, 90 seconds, the referee [Stephen Parkinson] decides he’s not going to give it. I’ve never been involved in a game where it’s taken that long unless it’s a VAR incident. It was so weird.

“Once you give the decision I don’t think you can turn back on it. The answer he’s given to us is that the linesman said that Terry found the Plymouth player first. I’m not too sure that’s how you get out of it.

“I’ve never seen that happen and I’ve never seen a referee give a penalty and take so long to go to his linesman and then change his decision. I would have thought you’d have to go back a long way to see a similar incident. It baffled me and there were some strange decisions all game but thankfully it didn’t matter in the end.”

Twitter users gave their reaction after Lorent Tolaj ‘smashes ball out of the stadium’ when sent off in Plymouth’s 3-0 loss to Northampton…

@henryBanniste13: The level of headloss 😂😂

@RowanPAFC23: can’t blame him like 😂

@cobblerben: The moment of the League 1 season so far 🤣 #pafc

@EdenRiches: Tolaj is a fucking idiot for getting sent off so needlessly in the first place, then to do this and probably get two extra games. The fact so many people were cheering and clapping him off blew my mind. #pafc

@pafctheo2022: Ashamed of my club currently. Absolutely diabolical. He’s lost the dressing room he has to go.

@Rhys14_: Fans singing and clapping Tolaj as he is sent off, sums this club up perfectly, bunch of losers, loser fans and huge loser mentality, he has now gave us no chance now #pafc

@Ollieargyle9: Tolaj getting himself sent off when we were “only” 1 down is as bad as any poor performance. Completely moronic and anyone who clapped him off should give their heads a wobble #pafc

@frankiemyles09: Tolaj clapped off after elbowing someone off the ball and costing us the game 😂😩 wtf #pafc

@ChipforkAndy: Tolaj reaction off field after being red carded showed more passion and spirit than any other player did all afternoon! Tac may call him out but he is head and shoulders above anyone at that club, he has nothing around him to support him

@onebarian1: Cleverley will take this squad down no question, the only hope is to get rid now, get a big character in who can install some confidence and hope Argyle can perform a miracle and stay up. No Tolaj for 3 games won’t help either.

@VinceRennie: Correct decision, ridiculous throwing his arm like that. No chance of a goal for a few games now

@PAFCLopez: Fans clapping him are fickle as fuck, he’s been throwing his hands around in a pissy all game. Might be our best player by a country mile but thats ridiculous from him.



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