Sky Sports host baffled as pundit and former referee justify lost West Ham United penalty vs Brentford
Rob Wotton was left bemused as Dermot Gallagher and Stephen Warnock both justified the VAR decision to take a penalty from West Ham against Brentford.
Darren England awarded a spot kick on the pitch during the 2-0 defeat at the London Stadium on 30 December, when Jarrod Bowen was felled by Ben Mee, but after a review it was changed to a free kick on the edge of the box.
Despite the challenge appearing to start outside the area and contact between the players remaining in place as the West Ham winger fell inside Gallagher praised the video assistant while dismissing comparisons to shirt-pulls in the same situation, then was backed by Warnock.
Speaking live on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch on Monday (2 January, 11.41am) host Wotton said: “Yes okay the challenge started outside the area, but his foot was still there when Bowen went into the area so why didn’t VAR review that and give that as a penalty?”
Gallagher responded: “VAR did review it because the referee on the field, Darren England, gave a penalty. Because he felt that’s what happened.
“When you see it, he actually does take him outside the area and then the player goes over him into the area. So I think that’s a really good use of the VAR. The contact is outside the area.”
Wotton challenged further: “His foot’s still connected when he’s in the area. You quite often talk about the challenge can start outside the area but if it carries into the area it’s still a penalty.”
And Gallagher said to that with: “It’s more difficult with a tackle. A lot of that is shirt pulling… that’s easy. But with a tackle, the tackle happened outside the area and he goes over him, so I think the VAR did well there.
“The other thing that was interesting was the referee didn’t have to go to the screen did he? Because it was factual so it was just cleared up.”
Warnock then weighed in: “I’m not with you [Rob] on this one. I’m with Dermot, sorry. When it’s a challenge of that nature and you’re committed to going into it, often what you find is the challenge continues. It’s a coming together, it’s a holding of the waist, a pulling of the shirt of the shoulder… You disappointed in me?”
What?
If attacking players are given the advantage when a shirt pull continues from outside the area to inside then there seems to be no logical reason why other fouls aren’t treated the same.
It may be that it is more difficult to determine in those situations, but if we now have the video technology to do so then why take the easy way out just because it is a trip?
If there is a law that states a shirt pull should be treated differently then Gallagher could presumably cite it as a former Premier League official, and an expert pundit for Sky, but both he and Warnock appear to be going with the fact that it just feels different, so no wonder Wotton was bemused.
Perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference to the result as this West Ham team looks to be in all sorts of problems at the moment.
But in that situation you need all the luck you can get, so a Declan Rice shot hitting the post in the first half and a potentially route back in from the spot being rescinded were indications of the exact opposite.