West Ham contentious incident v Southampton commented on by ex-PGMOL chief
Keith Hackett has praised VAR for its role in overturning the red card shown to Guido Rodriguez as West Ham United defeated Southampton.
Rodriguez was shown a straight red in Thursday’s (26 December) 1-0 win by Lewis Smith for a sliding challenge, but it was downgraded to a yellow after the referee checked the pitchside monitor.
In the view of former PGMOL chief Hackett, the officials got the decision spot on at St Mary’s.
He told West Ham Zone: “This was an excellent use of VAR. After a review, the red card was correctly downgraded to yellow.
“It was a reckless challenge but did not meet the law criteria for serious foul play. The law states “reckless” is when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned. The challenge lacked brutality.”
West Ham battle to victory at Southampton
It may not have been pretty, but West Ham got the job done against the division’s bottom side to keep up their good form.
That is now two wins and two draws from the past four Premier League matches, helping to lift the Irons up to 13th in the table.
Rodriguez’s red card came at a crucial moment in the contest, but thankfully VAR intervened and the referee backtracked on his initial decision.
As Hackett says, it was not serious foul play and therefore the red card should never have been issued in the first place.
In other West Ham news, a pundit is worried about an injury sustained by an Irons player.
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