'Out of order': Chris Sutton takes pop at Newcastle United star after incident at Bournemouth
Newcastle United put in a pretty toothless display against Bournemouth on Sunday as the sides ground out a 0-0 draw.
It's a game that certainly won't live long in the memory. In fact, when I sat down to write my match review after the game had ended, I'd forgotten pretty much anything that happened.
There was one incident that caused a bit of controversy, though, and that was when Nick Woltemade was denied a penalty despite having his shirt pulled, which prevented him from creating a chance.
VAR looked at the incident and agreed with the on-field decision to award nothing, even though it was clear that the German was being held back.
Chris Sutton needs to chill out
Even former referee Dermot Gallagher couldn't give a definitive answer on the case, instead choosing to question why Woltemade felt the need to go to ground. Meanwhile, former head of the PGMOL, Keith Hackett believes it was a penalty.
Chris Sutton seems to side more with Dermot Gallagher, although he has taken it a bit further when talking about diving on BBC 606, mentioning the Woltemade incident.
“I tell you what, naughty Nick Woltemade, Rob I tell you, he was out of order."
Damned if you do, damned if you don't!
For players, it's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If Woltemade doesn't go to ground, the referee won't see that there was an incident to rule on as the shirt pulling was going on behind Woltemade's back.
Then if he goes down to draw attention to it, he's accused of diving. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. A foul was being committed that, yes, wasn't obvious and wouldn't have resulted in a player falling to the ground, normally, but how is a player meant to convey that? He can't run to the ref; he's being held!
We understand that there are definitely two ways to look at the incident, and it's a lottery as to whether a penalty for shirt-pulling is awarded, but to call Woltemade 'out of order'? Calm down, mate.
