Chris Kavanagh made a number of high-profile mistakes during Newcastle United's FA Cup clash with Aston Villa on Saturday, with PGMOL chief Howard Webb set to hold face-to-face talks with the referee
Newcastle United players appeal to Chris Kavanagh
Chris Kavanagh made a number of errors on Saturday evening(Image: Getty Images)
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Newcastle United fans will have to wait until later this week for the outcome of Howard Webb's 'face-to-face' chats with Chris Kavanagh, as the PGMOL chief is out of the country until Wednesday.
Webb is set to sit down with Kavanagh following a series of costly mistakes during United's FA Cup clash with Aston Villa on Saturday evening. However, given the referee is set to be a UEFA referee observer for Tuesday night's Champions League clash between Galatasaray and Juventus, former top-flight referee Keith Hackett claims that Kavanagh's talks will have to momentarily wait.
Ex-PGMOL general manager Hackett told Football Insider on Monday: "At some point today, he will be out of England. He’s getting out of the way so he can’t deal with any managers or anything of the like. The ultimate responsibility of referees in England is Howard Webb’s.
"What’s he going to do in terms of discussion with the match referee? He won’t be doing that today, as he’s on a plane.
"He won’t be doing it tomorrow because he’s in Turkey, and he doesn’t leave the city until Wednesday afternoon. He’s not able to deal with it until then.
"There are phone calls and Zoom calls, but if I were him, I’d be having a face-to-face meeting at St George’s Park, with a video review of that particular performance. I’d start to ask questions."
Saturday's FA Cup clash was a match that Kavanagh will hope to forget quickly, given how many major errors the man in the middle of the park and his assistants made. Despite running out 3-1 winners over Villa away from home, it was a match that could have easily gone the other way thanks to controversial calls.
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While Kavanagh got Marco Bizot's red card right, given the goalkeeper made a reckless challenge on Jacob Murphy on the break well outside his box, the 40-year-old also made a number of howlers.
There's an argument that Lucas Digne's late challenge on Murphy moments earlier also warranted a red instead of the yellow he received, considering the full-back was travelling at pace and his lead leg was high.
Elsewhere, Villa's opening goal courtesy of Tammy Abraham would not have stood if VAR was in play, given he was in an offside position as Douglas Luiz dinked the ball into him over the Newcastle wall before finishing.
One of the strangest fumbles that Kavanagh made, meanwhile, came in the second-half of play. A goal down courtesy of Abraham's opener, Kieran Trippier appealed for a penalty as his cross struck the arm of Digne inside his own box.
While Kavanagh decided to award a foul for handball, he bizarrely gave the Magpies a free-kick from outside the area, despite the Frenchman being a couple of yards inside his box when the ball struck his hand. Despite decisions going against them for the most part, Newcastle managed to run out 3-1 winners on the night.
Sandro Tonali levelled matters with a deflecting shot from the edge of the area off the back of Trippier's wrongly-given free-kick, before bagging a brace for the evening and breaking the deadlock with a rocket into the bottom left corner with around 14 minutes left to play.
At 2-1 up, Joe Willock pounced on a loose ball at the back from Lamare Bogarde, before Nick Woltemade arrived in the box to blast home from close range.
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