The Athletic’s Chris Waugh has ripped into the decision that saw a penalty awarded against Newcastle United last week.
The Magpies put on a dominant display last Saturday as they recorded a 5-1 win at St James’ Park and moved themselves up into the top six as they look to be in contention for a European spot.
However, it wasn’t all straightforward as VAR decided not to overturn a handball decision that saw Dan Burn concede a penalty in the second half – something the defender himself questioned live on TalkSport, claiming he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do with his arm.
Waugh appeared to agree with Burn’s comments as he slammed the decision while speaking on Pod on the Tyne.
He said: “Bruno getting that third one just after what I thought was a very harsh penalty – I know his arm’s up, but I’m not having it as [a penalty].
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“By the letter of the law, in theory, it is, but then I was watching the Arsenal-Liverpool game yesterday [Sunday] and how is that one not a penalty? Because he [Gabriel] actually does have his arm [up] and Burn is facing the other way.”
TIF Thoughts on the penalty decision…
As Waugh spoke about, if there was consistency in terms of handball decisions and the goals were given fairly, there would be no complaints. But it will have miffed Newcastle fans as Arsenal got away with what appeared to be a more clear-cut handball decision just a day later.
Burn’s arm was very high up in the air but he was also jumping to head the ball, leaning backwards and wasn’t even facing where the ball was being headed back from, so he had absolutely no chance of getting out of the way.
While the referee giving the decision is poor, the fact that VAR checked the decision and saw nothing wrong with it is what will have likely angered a lot of Magpies fans since the weekend despite the massive win.