SEEING RED

Heat back on VAR again on day of three ‘extraordinary’ calls

REFEREES’ use of VAR has come under renewed fire after a set of ‘extraordinary’ calls decided the fate of several Premier League games.

Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl questioned the decision to cancel a penalty for Southampton in their 0-0 draw at the Etihad against champions Manchester City.

Gary Lineker said the official Jon Moss was ‘definitely’ wrong to reverse the spot-kick and a red card for Kyle Walker in the same incident.

The referee Anthony Taylor overturned his decision to award Burnley a penalty in similar circumstances during their 1-0 defeat by Arsenal. Taylor felt the goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale’s challenge on substitute Matej Vydra was legimitate after reviewing it on the pitchside screen.

However, Lineker insisted it was another case of a referee being asked to review what was not a clear and obvious error, which should be the requirement.

Leeds United were incensed that Mike Dean was not asked to review Joe Willock’s challenge on Daniel James in the penalty area.

The Leeds forward was up-ended by the Newcastle signing but the official waved play on and VAR chose not to intervene. Gary Neville, working for Sky Sports,

described the challenge as a ‘stonewall penalty’. ‘If I was Leeds, I’d be really annoyed,’ he said.

The Premier League’s use of VAR had gone relatively smoothly this season after a tumultuous introduction in the previous campaign.

Match of the Day host Lineker, however, was baffled by events once Adam Armstrong was brought down in the City area at the Etihad Stadium.

‘Extraordinary turnaround by VAR,’ he said. ‘Walker gives away a penalty and gets a red card. With double jeopardy, the red was an error, but to turn over the decision of a penalty is bizarre.

‘You could argue whether it was a penalty, but having given it, it was definitely not a glaring error.

‘The double-jeopardy rule in football says a side cannot be given two punishments for the same incident unless there was no attempt to play the ball. In other words, a penalty to Southampton should have sufficed.’

Lineker added: ‘Very similar turnaround of a penalty at Burnley. Vydra through, Ramsdale gets a slight touch on the ball but follow-through takes out Vydra. Again, that doesn’t mean it’s not a foul. Therefore it’s a debatable penalty but not an obvious error.’

Hassenhuttl could have claimed a famous scalp over the champions had the penalty stood. ‘We have the feeling it was not a clear wrong decision,’ the Southampton manager said. ‘When the referee thinks it is a clear wrong decision then yes, overrule it. He did it. It’s a pity for us and we have to accept it.

‘I didn’t ask him about it because it doesn’t make any change, he did it. That’s it. We knew if we wanted to win here we needed to have the perfect game and, tactically, we had a nearly perfect one.

‘But then you also need the luck to get such a penalty from the referee and this was not perfect.’

Chris Foy, the Mail on Sunday columnist and former Premier League referee, said

Jon Moss’s call would split opinion. ‘This will divide opinion depending on who you support, but I think it’s the right call.

‘Jon sees Kyle Walker and Adam Armstrong tangle in the box and believes the City man has committed a foul. He awards the penalty and on first viewing you can see why he came to that decision.

‘On a second look, Armstrong was going down when the challenge took place and made contact with Walker. Any contact by either man was normal contact. Jon recognised the mistake.’