Liverpool's disallowed goals, red cards for Norwich and Bournemouth, plus Man City's ruled-out penalty discussed
Monday 20 January 2020 18:14, UK
Virgil van Dijk did foul David de Gea for one of Liverpool's disallowed goals, says Dermot Gallagher in the latest edition of Ref Watch.
After another busy round of Premier League action, Dermot joined Rob Wotton, Sue Smith and Stephen Warnock on Sky Sports News for his weekly review of the big decisions.
Read on for Dermot's verdict from the latest games...
INCIDENT: Liverpool had a goal disallowed in the first half after Virgil van Dijk was penalised for a foul on David de Gea. The Liverpool defender backed into the goalkeeper, causing him to lose the ball, with Roberto Firmino going on to score. The Man Utd players surrounded referee Craig Pawson, with VAR eventually ruling the goal out.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: "I think whilst Van Dijk is entitled to challenge for the ball, he misses it and De Gea gets it in his hands. As he does so, there's a collision between them. Van Dijk doesn't see De Gea there and collides with him, but his eyes are always on the ball.
"When you're a goalkeeper and catch the ball with two hands, I've only got to touch your hand slightly and the ball is going to go. According to the laws of the game, the referee will always deem that once the goalkeeper has the ball under his control, which he thinks De Gea does because he has the ball in his hands, that's his ball.
"We saw something similar earlier in the season with the same goalkeeper and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The difference there was that De Gea goes to punch the ball and because he does that, he is deemed as making a challenge for the ball and does not have it under control. Once he's got the ball between his two hands, the law says he's in control of it so therefore, once you hit him - which Van Dijk does - he loses the ball because of that.
"The players surrounding the referee is very difficult in that situation and there were six players around him. You can control one or two players, but once more than two players come, it is very difficult to see who is doing what. The fourth official will monitor that and report it to the FA, who will then process it. You may not have heard the last of that."
INCIDENT: Liverpool had another first-half goal disallowed not long after when Georginio Wijnaldum slotted home, but he was offside in the build-up. The linesman had his flag raised and this was confirmed by VAR.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Great vision from the linesman.
DERMOT SAYS: "The VAR checked it and he was offside, but for assistant Gary Beswick, this is an absolutely unbelievable decision because Wijnaldum is just offside. If you look at it sideways on, Beswick is absolutely spot on with that. If you trace along the line to his start point, that's what it is all about and is key to getting that decision right."
INCIDENT: Ben Godfrey was sent off in the 76th minute after a studs-up challenge on Callum Wilson. He was initially shown a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney, but he went over to the VAR monitor to check his decision and the card was upgraded to a red.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: "It was the right decision. If you think through this, it was the same referee last week at Arsenal vs Crystal Palace with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's red card and the argument then was would it not have been better - and to appease the manager and everybody - if the referee had gone across [to the monitor] and made that decision?
"Here, you've got a carbon-copy tackle, even to the way Wilson's ankle rolls. You've got the same referee now going to the monitor and he's made the decision. That's what people wanted, that's what you've seen, so I think that should be applauded.
"The recommendation that came out on Friday was that if there is a chance a yellow card could be upgraded to a red card, or a downgrade from red to yellow, then the referee would go and make that decision."
INCIDENT: Before Godfrey's sending off, Bournemouth had already gone down to 10 men in the first half. Steve Cook was shown a straight red after leaping to keep out a shot from Ondrej Duda with his hand after his goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, had come out to deny Teemu Pukki, leaving the goal open.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: "If Cook ever finds himself struggling for game time as a centre-back, he's certainly got a role to play as a goalkeeper! This was one of the best saves I've ever seen. His athleticism to get off the ground was just fantastic but it is a red card."
Warnock added: "It's like messing about on the training ground that you would do with players who are having shots after training and you think you can go in goal for a bit and make a good save. It's just crazy on the pitch, but you can obviously understand it. He's thinking he needs to prevent a goal because it's not a great situation, but with 30 minutes gone in the game, you've got so long to go with 10 men. It's a bad decision."
INCIDENT: Manchester City were awarded a penalty when a cross pinged onto the arm of Jairo Riedewald. However, a VAR review showed the Crystal Palace defender had diverted the ball onto his hand with his own foot, and the penalty was rescinded.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: "I think the referee has blown quickly and given a penalty because he doesn't realise that Riedewald has kicked the ball against himself. This is an occasion where it would have been given as a penalty last year, but VAR quite rightly overrules it. The law is quite clear that you can't play the ball onto your own body like that and give a penalty."
INCIDENT: Leicester scored the opening goal in the 33rd minute, but there were questions over a foul on Jack Cork from Dennis Praet in the build-up. However, there was no VAR review and the goal stood.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: "I don't think it's a foul. Cork goes to protect the ball and it gets pinched with the referee waving play on. Cork is straight up on his feet chasing after and for me, it was a good tackle. The referee has the best view but I'd have been very surprised if a foul was given."
INCIDENT: For Wolves' third goal, there were questions raised over a handball from Adama Traore in the build-up. The ball hits his arm as he controlled a goal kick ahead of Jan Bednarek, before playing the ball with Raul Jimenez in an attack. Jimenez eventually scored, and the goal stood with no VAR review for a potential handball.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
DERMOT SAYS: "There is a handball but because the rule says he's got to play the ball into the net, which he didn't, or he's got to play it to the next player to put the ball into the net - again, which he didn't. The game goes on and because of that, it's missed in midfield and a goal is scored. But you can't go back to VAR because it didn't land within the parameters in that it didn't go directly to the player who scored."
