Richard Keys believes he has a new theory as to why Nottingham Forest were denied a penalty against Newcastle United which completely changed the outcome of the game.
Forest fans were outraged when Taiwo Awoniyi was not given the spot-kick against Newcastle with the game tied at 2-2 just moments before Bruno Guimaraes would go up the other end and score the winner.
In his personal blog, Keys has suggested that VAR didn’t get involved because Premier League referees don’t like being told that they’ve gotten a decision wrong.
Forest felt robbed after Newcastle defeat
It was a bit of a hectic game with both sides struggling defensively but looking quality on the attack, yet it was Newcastle who walked away from The City Ground with all three points.
It could have very easily gone the other way, however, as Martin Dubravka came very close to fouling Awoniyi who had gone down inside Newcastle’s box and was desperate for Forest to be given a penalty.
Ultimately, referee Anthony Taylor didn’t think there was enough contact from the goalkeeper to warrant a spot-kick and VAR had then agreed with him, leaving the homes fans outraged.
However, just like Alan Shearer, Keys believed the referee had made a huge mistake in not awarding the penalty and now has his own theory as to why VAR aren’t getting involved in incidents like this.
“Antony Taylor had a shocker at Forest. What was it he didn’t see when Dubravka took Awoniyi down?
“It was a pen. Taylor was actually looking at it. VAR froze – of course they did.
“There was no way Tony Harrington was going to tell Taylor.
“Like Michael Oliver – Taylor doesn’t take kindly to having his decision making questioned by people he regards as inferior to him.
“This is an another problem with VAR. And we know this, because Mike Dean said as much earlier in the season.”
Newcastle will take the points and run
At this stage of the season it doesn’t necessarily matter if the performance wasn’t the best or if there were some dodgy decisions in the game, it’s the three points that mean the most.
Newcastle are very keen to get back amongst Europe’s elite in the Champions League, though they have a lot of work to do with Tottenham 10 points ahead of them in fourth.
One thing Newcastle will have to sort out after this Forest win is their home form which ironically was the only thing keeping them in the top half at the beginning of the season but is now struggling.
The positive is that Newcastle’s remaining fixtures do look much kinder than their previous stretch and it’s now about going on a good run until the end of the season to give their European hopes the best chance.
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