Plus analysis of possible moving balls, red cards, handballs, offsides and encroachment at penalties
Monday 25 November 2019 21:34, UK
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was right to intervene and rule out Crystal Palace's opening 'goal' against Liverpool on Saturday, says Dermot Gallagher.
It was one of many controversial decisions made over the weekend and as ever, former top-flight official Gallagher gives his view on those disputed calls.
INCIDENT: James Tomkins has a 'goal' ruled out for an earlier push on Dejan Lovren.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision, foul.
DERMOT SAYS: When you see one angle, I cannot see anything other than it being given as a foul. If I come in here on a Monday and that has not been given, you will say to me: 'How is this not a foul?' There is physical contact and there are fouls and when the VAR sees that, I think it is very difficult not to give a foul.
INCIDENT: Raheem Sterling has a late 'goal' ruled out for offside.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision, offside.
DERMOT SAYS: The confusion was because the assistant waited - if you watch, he actually flags for offside. So when it goes back, it was not actually a VAR overturn. Offside is offside, we say that about VAR, you look at the lines. It is what we asked for and it is difficult to beat up a project you asked for…
INCIDENT: Phil Jones and Lys Mousset challenge for the ball in the build-up to John Fleck's opening goal.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision, no foul.
DERMOT SAYS: Definitely no as the players are side by side and if you are side by side, for me, then you can shoulder charge. And that is the key issue and I would have absolutely no complaints with that, that is good, good physical play.
INCIDENT: Oli McBurnie scores a 90th-minute equaliser, with a possible handball dismissed by the VAR.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision, no handball.
DERMOT SAYS: When I saw this, I said: 'Goal' and I still think goal. When you see it, he is trying to get his arm out of the way because he knows the minute that flies up off his thigh, if it strikes his hand, he knows he is going to get penalised and I think it hits him on the top of his chest.
INCIDENT: Ryan Fredericks is booked after a lunging tackle on Heung-Min Son.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Wrong decision, red card.
DERMOT SAYS: I think he is very lucky because on another day, with another ref, he could easily have got a red card. If you make a tackle like this, you really run the risk of a red card. As it is, Michael (Oliver) saw it as a strong or high-tariff yellow and if he had been sent off for that, he could not have complained. It is on the cusp and some refs may have gone yellow, and some may have gone red and you have to accept that some decisions are like that.
INCIDENT: Danny Ings opens the scoring, but was the ball moving in the immediate lead-up to the goal?
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision, the ball was not moving.
DERMOT SAYS: I thought no - he puts his hand on the ball, is very clever, gets it off quick and they score from it. But it would have been very harsh for the referee [Paul Tierney] to bring that back. But what I will also say is the VAR could not get involved as it is a restart of play, so although the goal would have been checked for different reasons, it would not have been for the restart.
INCIDENT: James Ward-Prowse puts his side back in front from a rebound after seeing his initial penalty saved, but were there Southampton players encroaching in the box when the spot-kick was taken?
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision, goal.
DERMOT SAYS: In my opinion, if one of those players who has encroached has an outcome on the goal, the VAR intervenes and says he has impacted. But to monitor that to that degree is impossible.
INCIDENT: Jamie Vardy must retake a penalty after encroachment by both sets of players.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: The law says that when both sets of players are encroaching in the penalty area when the penalty is taken, irrespective of the outcome, it must be retaken.
