Dermot Gallagher shocked by Fabian Balbuena red card in West Ham v Chelsea
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher claims Chris Kavanagh was ‘seduced’ into dismissing Fabian Balbuena as West Ham lost to Chelsea on Saturday evening.
The sides came into the clash at the London Stadium neck and neck on points in the race for the Champions League spots, but the Blues surged three points clear after Timo Werner’s goal on the stroke of half-time proved to be the difference.
West Ham were lacklustre in the opening period but they showed more attacking intent in the second half, only to be undone by a cruel refereeing call as Balbuena was handed his marching orders for a challenge on Ben Chilwell, despite clearly winning the ball first.
Speaking on Sky Sports [11:30, 26/04/21] for their ‘Ref Watch’ segment, Gallagher said he was shocked to see the red card flash in the face of Balbuena.
“It never went through my mind,” he said.
“I just thought he’d cleared the ball upfield. You see the player on the floor, I didn’t expect anything.
“The VAR checked it very forensically. When they slowed it down and they showed the point of contact on the calf, they sent Chris to the screen.
“Once he goes to the screen and with the image they showed him, I think it seduced him into thinking it was endangering the safety of an opponent. They showed the freeze-frame.
“The more I watched it on the replay the more I thought it would be a red card, but on the pitch I certainly didn’t think it was a red.”
Presenter Rob Wooton asked Gallagher for his definitive verdict, “[Was it] right or wrong?”
Gallagher: “On the field, it’s just a coming together. When you show the image they did it looks like he’s put his studs into his calf and when you see that over and over again it planted the seed of doubt in his mind, he sent him off for seriously endangering an opponent.
“The images on the replay shows it is, the pictures on the field show it isn’t.”
Common sense fails to prevail
This just highlights the utter madness of VAR and how it is tearing apart the Premier League as we know it.
As an ex-referee Gallagher’s not one to criticise decisions easily or pick apart the faults of the officials, but even he couldn’t believe this one.
He tried to row back some support for Kavanagh by saying it looks like a red card on the replay, but that doesn’t make the decision less ludicrous.
If this is the route we’re going down players won’t be able to put any force into their kicks for fear of raising their boot ever so slightly.
Referee’s can’t just judge actions alone via slow-motion replays and freeze-frames, there has to be an acknowledgement that it’s a contact sport.
How many more of these shockers are we going to see before the plug is finally pulled on the constant re-refereeing of games?
In other West Ham news, Irons in hunt to sign ‘Incredible’ £20m-rated ace from cash-strapped side, player wants PL move.
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