Villa and Newcastle were locked in a dramatic FA Cup tie which commanded headlines for all the wrong reasons
Lucas Digne of Aston Villa is shown a yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United at Villa Park
Lucas Digne of Aston Villa is shown a yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United at Villa Park(Image: Getty Images)
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Ten-man Aston Villa were knocked out of the FA Cup after losing 3-1 at home to Newcastle United in the fourth round.
Tammy Abraham scored his first goal since returning to the club in the first half, but Marco Bizot was sent off for bringing down Jacob Murphy during a counter-attack, before Sandro Tonali struck twice in the second half and Nick Woltemade grabbed a third.
But the night was overshadowed by a controversial refereeing performance from Chris Kavanagh in a game when VAR was not in operation.
And that dominated the headlines in the national media as they dissected a dramatic game that was full of incidents.
Here's what they had to say.
The Guardian
Football’s interminable video assistant refereeing debate has its latest chapter after a bizarre evening and officiating performance at Villa Park. With the FA Cup not allowing the video protocol until the fifth round, this was an occasion to make the abolitionists think twice. Is elite football already too far gone to officiate without a bank of screens in a faraway business park? Or were Chris Kavanagh, a referee promoted to the Uefa elite list in December, and his assistants just having a nightmare day at the office?
Sandro Tonali’s two goals and Nick Woltemade’s clincher booked Newcastle’s fifth-round place, completing a comeback in the face of officiating mistakes weighing against Eddie Howe’s team. It was Aston Villa who lost their discipline. They should have been down to 10 men earlier than they eventually were.
“We had the benefit of replays and we felt very aggrieved,” said Eddie Howe before playing a diplomatic card. “I think the referees and officials are making honest decisions. They’ve got them wrong on more than one occasion but I thought the players did really well to control their emotions, to stay calm.”
The Telegraph
If you wanted to compile an open-and-shut case in the defence of keeping VAR you do not need to look any further than Newcastle United’s FA Cup victory over Aston Villa.
No more witnesses, no more questions, just show the jury a video of this game and the shambolic performance from referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistants, and the argument will be done.
Kavanagh and his team made so many mistakes; some were farcical, others bordered on inept as Newcastle had to overcome error after error in Villa’s favour to win.
We spend a disproportionate amount of time debating the rights and wrongs of VAR but, without it, it seems our match officials have lost the ability to see and judge what is in front of them.
The Times
A personal view is the general standard of English refereeing is OK and we should do without VAR. But to paraphrase Clement Atlee, a period of silence on my part would be welcome. So I’ll keep quiet. And it was impossible not to join the masses who are outraged by officials, at this game.
Where to start? With Tammy Abraham putting Aston Villa with a clearly offside goal? Or Lucas Digne not walking for a highly red-cardable tackle? Or, most confounding of all, Digne being penalised for a handball a good two yards inside Villa’s box — and Chris Kavanagh, the referee, giving a free kick outside it?
Kavanagh is a respected operator, one of only three Englishmen on the elite list of Uefa referees, but let’s just say this wasn’t his day, and the same was true of his assistants.
And VAR? For all the nonsense it causes, the technology would have saved the officiating team here — from every one of the mistakes — but it was not in operation. Maybe the biggest lesson is even the best of PGMOL have forgotten how to officiate without it.
That all the errors went against Newcastle risked causing an almighty controversy had the result gone against them too. As it was, Kavanagh can give thanks to Sandro Tonali.
The Daily Mail
It is nights like this one at Villa Park where it’s a legitimate question to ask whether referees have got too used to the hand-holding of VAR.
On paper this was an all-Premier League tie being played out in the FA Cup with the quirk that there would be no VAR across the fourth round.
Given its reputation - Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has never warmed to the technology - many rejoiced pre-match. By the end, the consensus was just how on earth games can be played without it in future.
This was farcical, and the only relief for the officials will be that despite a litany of errors, Newcastle still managed to come out on top, thanks to Sandro Tonali ’s second-half brace.
Before you get to that Italian Job, though, you get the chaos. Loads of it. Offside goals, penalties not given and red cards overlooked for yellows.
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What was your view on the refereeing without VAR? Have your say HERE.