The controversial decisions made by VAR in Newcastle United’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea was the topic of conversation on last night’s Match of the Day 2 on BBC One.
Kai Havertz scored a late winner at Stamford Bridge after ghosting behind Dan Burn, who once again produced another impressive performance in the black and white.
But Eddie Howe’s side felt they should have been awarded a penalty by referee David Coote when Trevor Chalobah had clearly fouled Jacob Murphy inside the box, just after the hour mark.
Despite a VAR check, Coote’s original decision stood which perplexed Alan Shearer as well as his good friend and fellow BBC pundit Ian Wright.
Wright said: “They should have had a penalty. [It’s an] absolutely farcical decision. I don’t know what more you need to do when you’re sitting there in front of a camera and you see that.
“That is ridiculous. He (Chalobah) has a go at him (Murphy) and doesn’t get it (the ball), he has another go at him and doesn’t get the ball and all the time he is holding his (Murphy’s) shirt.
“How can you sit in the VAR office and not give that?”
Another controversial decision in the game was that Coote gave Chelsea goalscorer Havertz a yellow card for his elbow on Burn, which left the towering Newcastle centre-back with a nasty gash not far from his eye.
Newcastle’s number 33 was far from happy with the German and the Newcastle players and staff were perplexed that VAR hadn’t overturned the on-field decision and sent the former Bayer Leverkusen man off.
But fellow Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy felt the decision not to send off the man who scored the winner in last year’s Champions League final was the correct one.
Murphy said: “I don’t think this was a sending off, some people do.
“Both their eyes are on the ball when they jump their elbows are at the same height and they are using their arms as elevation which you have to do because they are both tall.
“Dan Burn’s right elbow just misses Havertz’s chin by an inch. Havertz elbow catches Burn.
“Two players innocently going for the ball, using their arms, no malice in it. It wasn’t a sending off.”
Both of the big decisions in the game went against the Magpies and that played a decisive role in our unbeaten run not being extended to ten games.
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