Unai Emery and Eddie Howe agreed on VAR being required after a succession of refereeing blunders overshadowed Aston Villa’s 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United in the FA Cup.placeholder image
Unai Emery and Eddie Howe agreed on VAR being required after a succession of refereeing blunders overshadowed Aston Villa’s 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United in the FA Cup. | Getty Images
Wayne Rooney described the officiating during Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle as ‘the worst he has seen’, but what did the two managers think?
Referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistants had a quite frankly terrible night at Villa Park, getting so many decisions painfully incorrect. Many of those were in Villa’s favour but a moment of madness from Marco Bizot just before half time led to an obvious red card, one that even the out-of-sorts officials couldn’t get wrong, putting Villa on the back foot.
In the first 15 minutes alone, Tammy Abraham’s opener was allowed despite a clear offside and Victor Lindelof got away with a clear foul on Lewis Hall in the penalty area. Lucas Digne then escaped a red card for a reckless challenge above Jacob Murphy’s ankle, before having his blushes spared for a handball that was blatantly in the box.
That Digne handball call was probably the worst of the lot, as the linesman had a clear and close view but somehow thought it was outside the area. Kavanagh, who didn’t appear to have a grip on the situation, trusted his assistant’s judgement but really shouldn’t have.
Howe slams refereeing decisions
Newcastle boss Howe was pretty calm and composed in his post-match press conference, but he admitted his mood probably wouldn’t have been so good if it wasn’t for the result going in his team’s favour.
“We felt really aggrieved in that first period that every decision seemed like it was going against us,” Howe told the media. “The officials don't make any decision on purpose, it's what they think at the time, but without VAR I don't think it's fair.
“I think the referees and officials are making honest decisions, but they've got them wrong on more than one occasion against us and unfortunately for us it was sort of building up negatively. But I thought the players did really well to control their emotions.
“I'm always torn on VAR, I've said this many times, because I still love the emotion. Even tonight, when a goal is given against you, or when a goal goes in and you see a flag or a referee, it's a goal and no-one is going to take it away from you. It’s that sense and that emotion, that joy you get in that moment.
“But then on the other side, I was wishing there was VAR on the first goal against us and probably throughout that game.”
Emery keeping faith in VAR
Only two weeks ago, Emery was calling VAR ‘not fair’ after Abraham was denied a goal in the 1-0 defeat to Brentford, for the ball going out of play 20 seconds before it hit the net. But now, in the aftermath of such a poor refereeing display, the Spaniard has instilled his faith in the technology.
Albeit reluctant to speak about the incidents in depth, Emery was willing to make his thoughts clear in a concise manner. “Today, VAR makes sense. VAR is necessary to help the referees,” Emery told the press.
What do you think? Do you think VAR is needed in the FA Cup as well as the Premier League? Let us know in the comments section.
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