Dermott Gallagher rules on controversial VAR decision as Newcastle United's Harvey Barnes gets chinned while through on goal
Newcastle United got the three points they desperately needed on Saturday, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 thanks to a powerful Nick Woltemade header.
The Magpies deserved to win on balance, but they made life very difficult for themselves again after a shaky start and an equally shaky ending.
It was a performance very reminiscent of many last season, where the Magpies would only turn up for the middle portion of the game and let our opponents run amok at the start and the end.
Things could, and indeed should have been a bit easier for Newcastle when Yerson Mosquera (who was a disgrace all game, by the way) should have been shown a red card for an assault on Harvey Barnes.
Harvey Barnes got felled like a tree when bearing down on goal
Barnes was bearing down on goal when Mosquera came in and flung his arm across the face of the Newcastle winger, sending him to the floor. As the last man, he should absolutely have been sent off. It was outside of the box, though, and with VAR only able to award penalties after the fact, Newcastle weren't going to get a free-kick when the referee missed it. However, VAR did check it for a red card and ultimately sided with the referee.
We're not sure what footage they were watching because it looked like a punch to the chops to us. Even more bizarrely, former referee Dermot Gallagher has also sided with the officials on Sky Sports News' Ref Watch segment (h/t The Shields Gazette).
“I think it's a foul and I think it's a yellow card, but I don't think it's a penalty error. So I don't think it's a penalty.
“It's outside the penalty area for me. I think it's outside the penalty area.
“I think he [Barnes] is not in possession of the ball. So it'd be a foul. I think definitely a foul, but I think yellow card.”
What incident was Dermot Gallagher watching?
Aside from the fact that he sounds like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, what's he talking about? It's a yellow card?
The only reason Barnes wasn't in control of the ball was that he received a forearm smash just as he was about to bring it down. It's a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, plain as day.
We're obviously mad at the incompetence, but imagine if Newcastle hadn't won this game and that one decision could have made all the difference? How is VAR still getting things so wrong?
