Newcastle United were awarded a controversial penalty late in the game last night against Tottenham Hotspur, and it could, and indeed should have handed all three points to Newcastle.
Anthony Gordon dispatched the penalty brilliantly, and with just a few minutes remaining in the game, it should have been game over, but the referee managed to find nine minutes of added time from somewhere, and five minutes into those magical minutes, Cristian Romero scored another equaliser for Spurs.
We said last night that it was a weak penalty for Spurs to give away, and it was the type of challenge you see go unpunished every weekend without fail. We could absolutely see why Spurs fans would be upset about the decision, as we would have been had the shoe been on the other foot.
That being said, when you look at it in terms of what Rodrigo Bentancur was doing - blocking Dan Burn with his back to the ball, then it has to be a foul. He can't possibly be making any attempt to play the ball because he doesn't know where it is; he's simply playing the man, and that's a penalty. It's one of those things that if referees were consistent and gave a penalty every time it happened, it would soon be gone from the game, so hopefully this was the first of many penalties given for such a needless offence.
Jamie O'Hara had his Spurs-tinted glasses on over his Spurs contact lenses
Mind, that's not how former Spurs player and one half of the most insufferable duo on talkSPORT (which is some bar to clear by the way), Jamie O'Hara saw it last night. O'Hara said the 'game's gone' after seeing that penalty given (h/t Newcastle World).
“What have I just witnessed at St James’ Park? That penalty, the game is gone. He’s got him in a headlock. It’s an absolute shambles from VAR.
“I’ve got a load of Gooners in the office, I’ve got you (Jason Cundy) as a Chelsea fan, everyone just couldn’t wait to see me come in here lose my head. Romero got us out of trouble and fair play to him but that penalty decision is a disgrace. That is one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen.
“You see that at any level, every game, every week, all over the country. Dan Burn has him in a headlock! I don’t know what (Rodrigo) Bentancur is meant to do. It was disgusting. VAR is ruining football.”
I'm getting splinters sitting on the fence with this one
While I agree to an extent that it was a soft penalty, the Dan Burn headlock claim is a bold one by O'Hara when Bentancur is clinging around Burn's waist like a rhesus monkey and making absolutely zero attempts to defend the corner.
Danny Murphy spoke about the incident on talkSPORT, and he was actually the one who convinced me it was the right decision and made the claim that if referees start punishing defenders who turn their backs on the play, then it will soon be snuffed out.
As for the debate over whether VAR is ruining football, that's still a lively one, but in this case, we're going to say it's making it better. It's catching out defenders cheating.