Kasumu's early suspension 'a symptom' of his midfield role

The midfielder has been booked seven times in 10 games this season
David Kasumu gets bookedDavid Kasumu gets booked
David Kasumu gets booked

David Kasumu's spree of yellow cards this season is an unfortunate by-product of the role he is being asked to play by Russell Martin.

Kasumu's seventh booking in 10 games - and his fifth in seven league games - on Saturday means he will miss tonight's game against Wigan through suspension.

Playing just in front of the back three, Kasumu, and indeed Jordan Houghton -who has five bookings in nine games - are charged with picking up the ball in dangerous areas and often under duress from opposition players. More often than not too, they are penalised for heavy-handed tackles and for breaking up play.

Martin admitted their roles mean they have to make key tackles and indeed fouls, but feels it is a part of the position they are playing.

"It’s a symptom of what we’re asking them to do," he said. "It’s a massive role in our team, they are really selfless in some of the fouls they make. They are there to protect the back three first and do it incredibly well and that’s shown by the amount of shots we concede on our goal.

"They’ve been fantastic, I said before Jordan is a big player for us, but he's found himself out the team because of the form of David.

"Of course we want the bookings to be less, David takes a lot of reasonability for a young guy though.

"He’s got a really high ceiling. if he keeps progressing with us he can be anything he wants to be."

Related topics: