Monday 22 October 2018 15:00, UK
Was Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany fortunate not to be dismissed at the Etihad? Should Manchester United's equaliser at Stamford Bridge have stood? Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher tells us.
As always, there were a whole host of hotly disputed decisions in the Premier League over the weekend. So whether it was red cards not given, questionable offside goals, debate penalties, or touchline melees, Dermot spoke to Sky Sports News to give his verdict on all those big incidents...
INCIDENT: City score a second goal in bizarre circumstances after Burnley's players stop, thinking referee Jonathan Moss was about to award a penalty
VERDICT: Wrong decisions, offside and the ball is out of play
DERMOT SAYS: There is so much learning from this and that is all we can do. The first learning process is, give yourself thinking time because the minute you put your whistle to your mouth, for me you should blow it. For whatever reason, he has decided no. Secondly, the assistant has to be switched on to where David Silva was at the start. He was clearly off the field of play, which means he is on the goal line. The third one is a lot more difficult because when you slow it down, it is out of play. Not easy to see in real time though and the damage was done with the first two.
INCIDENT: Vincent Kompany is booked after a high tackle on Aaron Lennon
VERDICT: Wrong decision, red card
DERMOT SAYS: I think it is a red card. You watch it, he comes front on, his boot is high, he is late and nowhere near the ball and the guy had to have stitches in his thigh. I am not saying he meant to do it, but the only thing I can think of is… I am not for one second advocating that you cannot send a player off in the first minute, but what I do think is if you are going to send a player off, you have to be sure in your mind.
INCIDENT: Leroy Sane is booked after catching Matt Lowton from behind
VERDICT: Correct decision, yellow card
DERMOT SAYS: I think it is petulance and an act of stupidity, but because he is so close, it is not violent and that is the difference for me. It has got to be an act of violence to be sent off.
INCIDENT: There is a touchline fracas after Chelsea coach Marco Ianni celebrates his side's late equaliser in front of the Man Utd bench
VERDICT: One for The Football Association to look at
DERMOT SAYS: It would have been fourth official Craig Pawson dealing with this and you can see quite clearly he is communicating with Mike [Dean] on the field. What they will do is sit down and file a report with The FA about what happened. I think the fact it was dealt with quite quickly by the stewards helped everybody and the fact that Chelsea have come out afterwards and what they have done is dampen it down quite a lot. Craig will say to The FA, 'Look at the video' as the video will show a lot more than he could have seen on the day.
INCIDENT: Marcos Alonso falls over in the lead-up to United's first goal
VERDICT: Correct decision, no foul
DERMOT SAYS: The referee is 100 per cent correct because in the directive it has to be a head injury and it is clearly not. The first thing he does after going to the ground is he grabs hold of his leg. You then ask, 'is it a serious injury?' Again, the referee decides it is not and the evidence of that is when the ball goes in the net, Alonso leapt up, went to Mike Dean and continued playing without any physio's attention. So it was not a serious injury or a head injury, Mike Dean 100 per cent correct.
INCIDENT: Alex Pritchard's first-half strike is ruled out for offside
VERDICT: Correct decision on two counts
DERMOT SAYS: Amazing call for two reasons. Firstly, when you see it sideways on, he is just offside. Then people say to me, 'well, it could have been Adam Lallana who headed the ball back.' But the ball was actually headed against Lallana's head, so it was a deflection, rather than a deliberate act.
INCIDENT: Wilfried Zaha is fouled in the box by Seamus Coleman, with referee Anthony Taylor pointing for a penalty
VERDICT: Correct decision, penalty
DERMOT SAYS: If you look at the referee, he took his time, he did not rush to put his whistle in his mouth. And because of that, he gave himself thinking time, ran it through his mind and 100 per cent got the correct decision.
