'You can't do it': Mike Dean gives his take on Fabian Schar's controversial red card against Southampton

Newcastle United's winning start to the Premier League campaign has been overshadowed by discussions over the red card shown to Fabian Schar.

Not even a half an hour into the new season and Newcastle were facing a personnel issue. After a coming together and a bit of afters, Fabian Schar squared up to Southampton forward Ben Brereton-Diaz.

As players often do in these circumstances, the pair went to put their heads together like two Stags unsure how to take the next step, but Brereton-Diaz seized his opportunity to go to ground like Schar had just taken a baseball bat to his face.

Referee Craig Pawson bought the Chilean's acting hook, line and sinker and showed Fabian Schar a straight red card.

Former referee Mike Dean thinks it was a soft decision

VAR was called into action but the new standards of VAR are meant to go more with sticking with the referee's decision which is exactly what they did. It brings up the question then, what's the point in VAR at all if it's not going to overturn incorrect decisions? We saw another one tonight as Matty Cash conceded a penalty to West Ham despite getting the ball. Day two and VAR is ruining the season already.

Speaking on Sky Sports News during the game, former Premier League referee Mike Dean was on his throne and he weighed in on the Fabian Schar incident saying he felt it was soft.

“There is a slight movement to the head by Schar, but Brereton Diaz has overreacted a little bit, but you can’t do, you can’t move your head. It’s really, really soft, Diaz has got to be better than that, he has got to be better than that.”

Russell Martin never saw the incident but is adamant it was the right call

Speaking after the game, Southampton manager Russell Martin said he agreed with the decision after saying he never actually saw the incident - so that's a perfectly meaningful opinion, then.

Likewise, Eddie Howe said he'd not seen it other than in real-time and was fairly non-committal when asked if he thought it was the correct decision.

"I don't think we want to see two players aggressively coming together, I think the contact is minimal and it's a harsh red card but it's something we'll learn from."

We still think it was very soft but it's given us plenty of content at least.