Todd Cantwell slammed for ‘really, really horrendous’ incident against Aberdeen amid call for Rangers ace to be banned
Todd Cantwell’s dive against Aberdeen was “embarrassing” and the Rangers midfielder should be banned for “cheating” as a result, according to Tam McManus.
The pundit reacted to the incident from the 1-1 draw at Pittodrie on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on 27 November to heavily criticise the second-half attempt to win a penalty a day earlier, as he called for a two-game suspension to be handed down.
He was joined by former Celtic manager Neil Lennon who called the dive “really, really horrendous”, after Cantwell had also been mocked on Twitter over it by Chris Sutton on Sunday.
McManus said (16m 40s): “It’s embarrassing. I think he should get cited for that and a two-game ban for that… Not just Cantwell, the boy [Kenneth] Vargas at Hearts, equally as bad. I think both of them should be cited and they should get a two-game ban.
“That’s completely just cheating in my opinion.”
Lennon added: “I can’t disagree with that at all. It was really bad. We’re not isolating Todd Cantwell here but just that specific incident it looked really, really horrendous.”
Not great
Perhaps a two-game ban would be slightly harsh but it wasn’t a good look from the Rangers man, who drew unnecessary negative attention on himself for no benefit.
While Barry Robson was left raging after the final whistle about the penalty that was awarded for a shirt-pull on Connor Goldson, there was at least a foul there, whereas Cantwell was looking for it.
The former Norwich City player has been well short of the levels he reached last season so far this year and out on the right against the Dons it didn’t work for him at all.
His dive was an unwelcome footnote on a frustrating day which saw Philippe Clement drop his first points in the SPFL since being appointed at Ibrox.
The Belgian likely wasn’t impressed either and will probably have mentioned so behind closed doors, especially when it is hardly helpful in light of Robson and Steven Naismith crying foul over VAR decisions in the box that have been given against them.
Rangers missed the opportunity to take advantage of Celtic’s slip the day before and Cantwell was one of a many who had an off game.
In other Rangers news, an Ibrox-linked ace has admitted his club might force him out in January amid “a lot of interest”.