Former Premier League referee says whether Ryan Yates should have been sent off for elbow on Tino Livramento

We have made it pretty clear what our feelings are on the Ryan Yates elbow incident from Newcastle United's win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Ryan Yates, a player we already weren't a big fan of, floored Newcastle defender Tino Livramento after elbowing him square in the chops and busting his lip.

Referee Anthony Taylor ignored the blatant offence and Dan Burn committed a foul to stop a Forest breakaway after the Newcastle players expected play to be stopped. That foul landed Burn a yellow card and a subsequent one-match ban.

We were astounded when Match Of The Day 2 didn't even look at the incident and even more baffled when Sky Sports News' Ref Watch section also didn't cover it. We're not sure why it hasn't picked up any attention on TV, but thankfully, one former referee has spoken up.

Former Ref Mark Halsey believes Anthony Taylor got it wrong

Mark Halsey wrote in The Sun that he was surprised that Anthony Taylor let play continue.

“Ryan Yates was lucky to escape punishment for a reckless use of the arm on Newcastle man Tino Livramento. I was surprised Anthony Taylor did not recognise the intensity of the challenge from the Forest midfielders. Play continued but Newcastle should have received a free-kick and Yates a yellow card when Livramento was left bleeding from the mouth.

“Yates was leading with the arm so I don’t believe it fell into the category of a red-card offence. The VAR official, Tim Robinson, would have looked at the incident but he cleared it. Robinson would have intervened only if he deemed the challenge was violent conduct and worthy of a red card.

“The flashpoint proved costly for Eddie Howe’s men because Dan Burn took instant retribution. He hauled down Morgan Gibbs-White on the half-way line and collected his fifth yellow of the season and a one-match ban. Yates was later cautioned but he escaped a dismissal owing to Taylor’s leniency.”

Why wasn't play stopped for a head injury?

The elbow was just the first of many indiscretions carried out by dirty Ryan Yates who wouldn't be out of place in the 1990s Wimbledon side. It was almost laughable that it was a pull back on Alexander Isak that saw him go into the book after the elbow to Tino and the studs down Sean Longstaff's thigh.

We can perhaps accept that it wasn't a red card offence by the letter of the law, but how Anthony Taylor let play continue is baffling.

As my mate pointed out last night when on a rant the likes of which I've never seen, regardless of whether Taylor spotted the foul, Livramento was on the deck with a head injury and the game should have stopped for that, so he twice failed to do the right thing.

Still, he's probably not the PGMOL's biggest problem right now, eh?