Anthony Gordon's goal should have been ruled out for a push by Joelinton; Dermot Gallagher felt a booking was right for Kai Havertz's challenge on Sean Longstaff but said he was lucky not to receive a second yellow; Bruno Guimaraes deserved yellow, not red, for his forearm on Jorginho
Tuesday 7 November 2023 06:18, UK
Former referee Dermot Gallagher dissects the flashpoints from the latest round of Premier League and Scottish Premiership games, including Anthony Gordon's controversial winner for Newcastle against Arsenal.
INCIDENT: Anthony Gordon's goal was allowed to stand despite VAR checks for the ball going out of play, a possible offside against the scorer, and a possible push by Joelinton on Gabriel Magalhaes.
Was the ball out of play?
DERMOT SAYS: "I don't think so. When you see a corner taken now, it overhangs the quadrant. Often you think it's outside, but because it overhangs, it's in play.
"The law says the whole of the ball has to be over the whole of the line. If you look, there's a fair chance part of that ball is overhanging the line.
"I say fair chance because you have to prove the ball is out of play. The assistant has to be convinced that the ball is out of play before he can flag it's out of play. The VAR has to be convinced it's out of play before they can deem it out of play.
"Therefore, if there's a doubt, you can't say conclusively it's out. You don't have to say conclusively it's in, it has to be out - and there's no evidence to say it's out."
Was Gordon offside from Joelinton's knockdown?
DERMOT SAYS: "There have to be two defenders. People think it's one defender because the goalkeeper is normally there or, alternatively, he can be behind the ball and I think that's the key issue here.
"The goalkeeper is a red herring because he's out of play, so to speak, regarding offside. Is Gordon behind the ball when Joelinton knocks it down?
"If you see when he knocks it down, there's no start point for the VAR to draw the line. No destination, no start point, because if you have no start point, you can't get to the end point.
"It was impossible to find the ball, because of Joelinton's body, they could draw a line through to see where Gordon was, so therefore you have to default back to the assistant's call, which was onside."
Was Gabriel pushed by Joelinton?
DERMOT SAYS: "That's the crux of the matter - it's a subjective decision. For me, I think it's a push. I've spoken to many who think it's not, I've spoken to many who think it is - the subjective decision is the dilemma.
"The referee said no, the VAR looked at it and thought it wasn't enough to overrule the referee, so that's where we're at.
"People say to me, if you'd have picked number two, the push, the other two would have gone away. That's great, but the referee didn't pick the push; he chose to say it was physical contact rather than a foul and the VAR backed him."
INCIDENT: Kai Havertz was only booked for a late challenge on Sean Longstaff and the decision was upheld despite Newcastle being adamant he should have seen red.
DERMOT SAYS: "If he had got a red card, he couldn't argue.
"It's quite ironic that history has rewritten itself on Saturday. This reminds me so much of (Mateo) Kovacic a few weeks ago, where I think he was right on the cusp to get a red card and he got a yellow card.
"I think, again, the referee has given the benefit of the doubt here. He's flying through the air, he's reckless. He catches him with his wrong foot, luckily, because if he catches him with his first foot, I don't think Longstaff would be getting up.
"Luckily for him, he also arrives low. If he got sent off, he couldn't argue, but I'd back the referee on the yellow card.
"I think what saved him is that it's his wrong foot. It's a yellow card. It's not nice but he got lucky with how he caught him.
"But what I find hard is that, later in the game, I can't see how he finished the match..."
INCIDENT: Havertz avoided a second yellow card for another lunging tackle, this time on Callum Wilson.
DERMOT SAYS: "I think that's a yellow card. I operate the 0-10; if the first one's a nine because it doesn't quite make the threshold, that's above one - and the referee knew it was a foul because he played advantage."
INCIDENT: Bruno Guimaraes avoided punishment despite appearing to deliberately hit Jorginho in the head with his forearm off the ball.
DERMOT SAYS: "I think it's similar to Palhinha last week. It's totally unnecessary; there's no need to do it; he knows what he's doing because he uses his forearm. If you use an elbow as a weapon, it's a lot more dangerous.
"It resulted because of a tackle a few minutes before. He went to make a tackle and went after it, so he knew he was going to do it. On the cusp, I'd say. Yellow card."
INCIDENT: Scott McTominay scored for Manchester United against Fulham following a free-kick but the goal was ruled out by VAR for a 'subjective offside' against Harry Maguire, who was deemed to be interfering with play.
DERMOT SAYS: "They definitely got the right decision and I think Sian Massey - the assistant VAR - should get a lot of praise for this for drawing it to the attention of Jarred Gillett.
"When the ball comes in, you can see Harry Maguire is in an offside position, not an offence. Does he attempt to play the ball? Most definitely because he's not far from it. Does he impact on the defender? Most definitely because he can't play the ball as he's pinned him off.
"Because it isn't a factual offside due to those factors, the referee has to go to the screen and make that decision as subjective offside."
INCIDENT: John Brooks stopped the game early in game and asked for Maguire to be assessed by Manchester United's medical staff over fears of a possible head injury.
DERMOT SAYS: "The initial contact was 40 seconds into the game. The medical staff came on, monitored him and he was sent back on.
"At that point, the ball had gone out for a goal kick after Maguire had gone up for a corner and he happened to be next to John Brooks who looked at him and felt, as a human being, this guy doesn't look quite right, so he's done the best thing possible.
"He hasn't assessed it himself, he's called the medical staff on and said they might want to look at him. He was quite right to do what he did."
INCIDENT: Sheffield United were awarded a late penalty after referee Rob Jones penalised Fabio Silva for a foul on George Baldock.
DERMOT SAYS: "I think the referee gave it too quickly. The best players in the world create time on the ball; the best referees create a little bit of thinking time. Whether he wanted to get in quick just to make his decision, I don't know.
"There was no need to rush it and if he'd have waited two seconds and seen how it unfolded, he'd have probably made a different decision.
"What I do feel is that, once it's given, because there is physical contact - albeit minimal - he's ruled the VAR out and they are never going to overrule it. For me, it's best left alone."
INCIDENT: Liverpool were refused a penalty after Virgil van Dijk appeared to be pulled down by Luton's Teden Mengi following a corner in the second half.
DERMOT SAYS: "I think it's a foul, there's no doubt about that. We see this week-in, week-out; there's so much pushing and pulling by forwards as well as defenders.
"What referees are looking for, by and large, is a clear-cut one where the shirt comes right out. There's so much of that and the forward is often equally as culpable."
INCIDENT: Liverpool were refused another penalty after Van Dijk's header appears to strike Ross Barkley's arm at close proximity.
DERMOT SAYS: "I don't think it's handball. Barkley goes up to head the ball and his arms are always up there. Coming down, it strikes him on the back of the elbow, no doubt about that.
"He's got his back to it, his arms are reasonably into his body. The perverse irony of this was that while this was going on, Luton attacked and scored and could have had a situation where a goal was disallowed and they went back for a penalty at the other end if they feel it's handball.
"They backed the referee, no handball, goal given at the other end."
INCIDENT: Celtic's Hyeon-Gyu Oh had a goal ruled out against Ross County after Daizen Maeda was deemed by VAR to be fractionally offside.
DERMOT SAYS: "This is so, so tight and this is where only VAR would get this. You can understand the assistant not being able to give the offside with the naked eye."
