'Clear serious foul play': Former PGMOL chief was baffled by Chris Kavanagh's decision making as Newcastle United progressed in FA Cup
Newcastle United put their name into the hat for the FA Cup fifth round draw on Saturday night despite having to endure the worst refereeing performance in modern times.
Chris Kavanagh was so poor last night that we wouldn't be surprised if he's investigated for match fixing. He missed two penalty shouts for Newcastle, although on reflection, one of those was the right decision. He and his assistant missed a blatant offside for Aston Villa's goal, Kavanagh failed to send Lucas Digne off for a reckless studs-up challenge on Jacob Murphy and then he and that same linesman who missed the three offsides for Villa's goal conspired again to award Newcastle a free-kick for an incident that clearly took place inside the box.
Even Aston Villa fans were sympathetic towards Newcastle last night for some of the decisions Kavanagh made. Not only that, but I got messages from Sunderland fans expressing sympathy after they'd also fallenfoul to Kavanagh's bizarre brand of refereeing in their recent match against Liverpool.
The referee was rightly pulled apart by pundits last night for his display, and now former PGMOL chief, Keith Hackett, has had his say on some of the decisions when speaking to Football Insider.
Lucas Digne was a liability for Aston Villa last night
About the Lucas Digne incident on Jacob Murphy, Keith Hackett called it 'serious foul play'.
“The challenge by Digne should have received a red card. It was clear serious foul play.”
Digne was again at the centre of attention when the Magpies were denied a penalty for a blatant handball inside the area.
'Oh dear' indeed
Last night I said that VAR may well have overturned the handball decision, but after watching it again, I've changed my mind. Digne's arms were up by his head and had no right being where they were; it was an unnatural position, and I believe VAR would have stuck with the on-field decision. However, VAR would have informed the referee that the incident occurred well inside the penalty area.
Hackett believes Kavanagh was let down by his assistant, who had a perfect view of the incident.
“Oh dear. Referee Chris Kavanagh really should have received appropriate intervention by the assistant to advise that it was in the penalty area.”
The big takeaway from last night was that VAR has made officials either lazy or terrified of making decisions. Either way, they are effectively useless without it, clearly.
