Millwall coach Gary Rowett accused the Swansea striker Andre Ayew of 'embarrassing' behaviour
Millwall manager, Gary Rowett has launched an attack on Andre Dede Ayew, accusing the superstar of putting up an 'embarrassing' behaviour during Swansea City's 2-1 win at the Liberty Stadium.
Rowett did not spare the Black Stars captain for his reaction to an off-the-ball incident that sparked an angry response from Millwall’s players which forced the coach to weigh in after Saturday's match.
Andre Dede Ayew, who was the key player in the match, collapsed to the floor in the 58th minute of the match and screamed in agony while clutching his face following an incident with Millwall's Jake Cooper.
Cooper seemed to have caught Ayew in the face with his elbow but the Lions coach attacked the Ghana captain saying he made the most of the situation to get the defender sent off.
“I’ve watched it back, they felt it was a blatant elbow,” Rowett said. “When I’ve watched it back, as he’s run across Coops, Coops’s arm comes out and he’s run into his arm."
“Whether Coops throws his arm or not, the fact is whatever contact is there wouldn’t make anyone fall to the floor and roll around screaming. [Connor] Roberts did it first half, Ayew did it second half."
“In my opinion there’s no place for that in the game. But they’re good players, they’re a good team. They move the ball well."
“But if you’re asking about that [Ayew] incident in particular, I thought it was pretty embarrassing, in truth. There wasn’t a mark on him, put it that way, when he got up."
“What I would say is because he’s an excellent player he’s a marked man, isn’t he? Any player like that is going to get a little bit more physical attention than others."
“But in that incident there, to go down like that and roll around – he rolled about 25 times and screamed. For me, I felt it was a little bit over the top."
“You have to make your own mind up when you see the incident back. But that was my take on it."
“As I say, he’s a good player and he was probably the difference in the game today in certain moments. I’m not taking anything away from him, his quality or Swansea’s quality."
“But for me that was a little bit unsavoury.”
Despite the incident, Ayew was pivotal as he led Swansea City to continue their impressive start to the Sky Bet Championship.
Defenders Jake Bidwell and Ben Cabango scored second-half goals as the Swans grabbed their 10th point from four matches in the league so far this season.
