Newcastle United fans tuned into Match Of The Day on Saturday night to get their take on the VAR decision that dominated the headlines after the 2-1 win at The City Ground on Friday as Elliot Anderson’s goal was
By now you’ve definitely heard the tale – Newcastle youngster Elliot Anderson scored his first senior goal for his boyhood club on Friday night, rising like a salmon to nod home a sublime Alexander Isak cross. As his teammates congratulated him, VAR were embarking on a mission that would result in a shocking call that I’ve yet to see anyone agree with.
Dion Dublin and Ashley Williams were on Match Of The Day duty on Saturday night, and to nobody’s surprise, they too couldn’t see why Anderson’s goal was chalked off.
MOTD pundits discussed the offside decision
Former Welsh international, Williams said: “We’ve gone over it and tried to understand why it wasn’t given. The understanding from the referee was that it was a deflection from Felipe when it clearly wasn’t.
“I think we can all agree it wasn’t a deflection. It was a clearance and it was a decent clearance. He (Felipe) was in the right position.”
His view was backed up by Dion Dublin with the former Aston Villa ace saying: “This touch there, that’s not a deflection. That’s just good defending, stopping the ball from getting into a dangerous area. And they’ve given it as a deflection. I don’t understand. It’s a really poor decision. It’s wrong.”
It’s the same view held by pretty much everyone who saw it other than die-hard Nottingham Forest fans, mackems, Paul Tierney and those in the VAR booth on Friday.
Felipe had every intention of playing that ball, it was his job to do so, that’s what he was stretching for. Therefore it is a deliberate action. Not to mention the fact that another Forest defender then boots the ball off Sean Longstaff making it a second opposition player to touch the ball before the offside Longstaff did.
The fact that Newcastle won regardless means the officials got away with one
If the score remained locked at 1-1 at full-time the inquest into this decision would still be rolling on now, but as Newcastle ultimately regained the advantage and took the three points, the controversy was relegated to a mere talking point.
The consequences of that goal being disallowed and the game finishing level as a result would have been huge. If the season had ended with Forest surviving relegation by one point, or Newcastle missing out on Champions league by a point it all would have come back to that one call.
These are the stakes when referees and VAR fail to do their jobs properly and mess up massive calls like this.