Robbie Mustoe has claimed on The 2 Robbies podcast that Newcastle United got lucky with their penalty which was awarded by VAR.
Newcastle were luckily handed a golden opportunity to get back on level terms after just five minutes of being behind against Bournemouth when Jefferson Lerma was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area.
This came just a few weeks after the PGMOL admitted that VAR intervened and disallowed a Newcastle goal that should have indeed stood, so it was some much-needed good fortune for the Magpies, although Mustoe believed it was an unfair decision to award the penalty.
Mustoe believes that the decision wasn’t correct and simply wasn’t fair on Bournemouth.
(58:20) “It’s got to change, I think it’s super unfair mate, super unfair that they get a free shot from 12 yards from the guy who [saw] the ball hit his hand from two yards away, not particularly far away from his body.”
Should Newcastle have been awarded a penalty?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s VAR decision…
There didn’t appear to be too much controversy or discussion about the handball and even the VAR decision took a few seconds once the referee was sent to the pitchside monitor, however, replays did show the ball seemingly coming off Lerma’s knee before hitting his arm.
Therefore, it would have potentially made more sense for no spot kick to have been awarded given that the Bournemouth man could have done nothing to move his arm quickly enough, once the ball bounced off of his leg.
However, some may point out the poor VAR decision that have gone against Newcastle against the likes of Wolves and Crystal Palace and suggest that this is just football evening itself out, but at the end of the day, officials should just be focusing on their game and not thinking about past decisions to even things up.