"They failed to spot Tammy Abraham was offside for Villa's opening goal, missed a shin-high tackle by Villa full-back Lucas Digne on Newcastle's Jacob Murphy which could have warranted a straight red and then gave a free-kick for a handball by Digne even though he was clearly inside the penalty area at the time."
""I think there's over-reliance on VAR. "And unfortunately, now the officials are used to that and where they've been getting their help and it's been getting them out of jail at times or they're waiting for that to make the decision. "With no VAR they have to make the decision and they're probably used to keeping the flag down and that's what's cost the decisions, yesterday. "No one's denying it's very difficult job to do, I think that's where the referees need some help and they've been getting it obviously from VAR and not to have that now.""
""I feel like the linesman was in a very good position to see if the referee missed it," he added on the podcast. "I just thought it was a very strange decision and it's a mistake and I'm sure the officials today will be disappointed. But it was a really bad decision, I felt.""
Match officials Chris Kavanagh and assistants Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh missed several clear incidents during the Aston Villa v Newcastle FA Cup fourth-round tie. Tammy Abraham's opening goal involved an offside that was not flagged. A shin-high tackle by Lucas Digne on Jacob Murphy went unpunished despite appearing to merit a straight red card. A subsequent handball was penalised with a free-kick even though Digne was clearly inside the penalty area. The handball call has been described as one of the worst decisions seen. Concerns were raised that officials have become over-reliant on VAR and may be less decisive without it, with comparisons drawn to past failures to award goals to Frank Lampard and Pedro Mendes.
Read at ESPN.com
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