'He gets lucky': Dermot Gallagher weighs in on controversial penalty incidents as Brentford beat Newcastle United
Newcastle United fell to a home defeat to Brentford for the first time in over 90 years at the weekend, but while the Magpies were the architects of their own demise, the referee played a good part in the drama too.
Although, if we're being honest, the referee probably saved us more than he hurt us in this instance, as we feel that Brentford were denied an obvious penalty just 90 seconds into the game when Kieran Trippier held back Keane Lewis-Potter.
Brentford were eventually given a penalty when Jacob Murphy was punished for being born with arms, and then Newcastle got a spot-kick of their own late in the game when Bruno Guimaraes was felled in the area.
The Brentford penalties were the ones to be scrutinised, as each incident had big question marks over them. Sky Sports brought in former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher to run the rule over each decision.
Demot Gallagher says Kieran Trippier was lucky
First up, the Kieran Trippier incident in the opening mintues which was waved away by Andy Madeley and VAR. Gallagher feels Trippier was very lucky.
"Kieran Trippier couldn’t have complained if a penalty was given so he gets lucky.
“The way Lewis-Potter goes down doesn’t help his case with the referee. He’ll say he has to go down but it’s almost an afterthought.
“Trippier does grab his shirt. Even if a penalty is given, it’s not going to be a red card because the ball is running away and the ‘keeper will be the favourite to get it. The maximum would be a yellow card.”
There was no deliberate action by Jacob Murphy to handle the ball, but the letter of the law still rules it to be a penalty
Jacob Murphy's handball is the one that was more open to interpretation. By the letter of the law, it probably was the right decision, but as we keep saying on these things, there has to be room for officials to exercise common sense. Dermot Gallagher went straight down the 'them's the rules' path.
“Jacob Murphy’s arm is out.
“He moves his arm back in which means it hits it. The shot is on target.”
Jay Bothroyd, alongside Gallagher, also agreed with the decision, but has rubbished claims that it was a deliberate handball.
“I’ve heard people say he’s moving his arm towards the ball, but actually he’s coming across and is moving in that direction to the right. That is accidental. The ball is going in the goal so it’s a yellow card and a penalty. It’s the right decision.”
Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy both asked for a return to punishing handball only when it's deliberate when speaking about it on Match of the Day, and we wish the rule makers would return to common-sense rulings like that.
