Newcastle United may feel fortunate to have not given away a penalty on Sunday having seen an image posted to Twitter by TalkSport, which involved Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho.
Eddie Howe’s men ground out a hard-fought point at Old Trafford with neither able to break the deadlock as the game ended level at 0-0.
However, there were a number of refereeing decisions which may come under scrutiny in the days to come and a challenge on Jadon Sancho inside the box will be one of them.
With the Red Devils chasing the points, Sancho went down inside the box after contact with Newcastle’s Sean Longstaff, but the referee, Craig Pawson, waved it away.
The Toon’s midfielder seemingly went to swipe the ball away from the English winger but saw the 22-year-old left in a heap on the ground appealing for a spot kick.
TIF Thoughts on TalkSports’ post…
There was definitely contact made between Longstaff and Sancho, so in that sense, there is probably a case to be made for this warranting a penalty. Indeed, law 14 states that that a penalty kick is awarded if a player commits a direct free kick inside the penalty area, which you would have to say is evident in the image above, with the ball clearly gone and contact made with the studs on the foot of Sancho.
Should Sancho have got a penalty for this?
Yes
No
However, it is perhaps the fashion in which Sancho hit the ground which has made Pawson’s mind up with the winger throwing his arms up whilst going down. This was something that Alan Shearer ‘mentioned as he accused the winger of diving and making a meal of it to try and secure a penalty for his side.
However, Newcastle fans may also feel justice was done here as Pawson and VAR failed to pick up on an incident involving Callum Wilson which you would have to say looked like a bit of a stonewall penalty.