The VAR responsible for Anthony Gordon shambles – Rewarded instead of punished | OneFootball

The Anthony Gordon VAR incident was a disgrace on the night.

However, what has followed has been even worse.

Or rather, what hasn’t followed!

That Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2 match having been massively impacted by the VAR Jarred Gillett, as in the first half he failed to flag up the foul on Anthony Gordon in the penalty area and direct Robert Jones, the referee on the pitch, to go and look at the TV replays pitchside.

The Newcastle United player denied a stonewall penalty.

The pace with which it happened meaning understandably the referee on the pitch wasn’t in a perfect position to see exactly what happened. However, the kind of incident that VAR was obviously designed to deal with. As the TV replays clearly showed those of us watching at home that Amrabat raked his studs down the Achilles of Anthony Gordon.

Yet somehow, the VAR Jarred Gillett NOT sending referee Robert Jones to the pitchside monitor to watch the TV replays and award the obvious penalty.

What is arguably worse though, is that Newcastle United and their fans are left with absolutely no proper explanation of why Jarred Gillett failed to flag up the foul on Anthony Gordon.

How is this in any way acceptable?

There appears to me only one of two things that happened with VAR Jarred Gillett.

Firstly, he and the numerous other people involved in helping to come to a VAR decision, none of them noticed on all the various replays that Amrabat fouled Gordon from behind, bringing him down when his heel made contact down Gordon’s Achilles.

Secondly, Jarred Gillett did see that this contact / foul took place (or one of the other VAR people pointed it out to him) and he decided it was not a foul and not a penalty.

Now I don’t know about you but both these scenarios are ridiculous and bring the game and VAR into disrepute.

However, at the very least, surely Jarred Gillett has to come out and say exactly which of the above is the case AND justify why he did what he did, or rather, didn’t do.

As has been mentioned by many others, if this had been the other way around and Man U hadn’t been awarded a penalty for this kind of incident, we would never have heard the last of it. The media would have launched an instant all encompassing full on campaign demanding justice for Manchester United and punishment for the VAR Jarred Gillett.

Speaking of which…

So what has been the punishment for Jarred Gillett.

Well, absolutely nothing.

Arguably, he has cost Newcastle United a place in the Europa League with this massive blunder, yet no punishment and indeed, quite the opposite.

I turned on the TV last night and there is Jarred Gillett refereeing the key promotion play-off, Leeds winning 4-0 against Norwich and progressing to the final.

Even better (worse!), I look at the officials for Sunday, the final round of Premier League matches.

So Jarred Gillett has been responsible for that astonishing shambles at Old Trafford AND given no proper explanation / justification, yet five days later he is the VAR for… Manchester City v West Ham. Yes, the key game that will decide who wins the Premier League!

Imagine a minute to go and the scores level, Erling Haaland put through on goal and runs into the penalty area, just as he is about to shoot, a West Ham player rakes his studs down Haaland’s heel and he falls to the ground instead of scoring.

It goes to Jarred Gillett in the VAR nerve centre and he decides nothing to see here, no penalty, no sending the referee (John Brooks) to the pitchside TV monitor, the match ends in a draw and Arsenal win the Premier League having beaten Everton.

Then reality hits me.

We all know 100%, that if indeed this scenario plays out, if a Man City player is fouled as Anthony Gordon was, then 100 times out of 100, Jarred Gillett within seconds will be sending referee John Brooks to the pitchside TV monitor to watch the replays and award the obvious penalty.

Anthony Gordon talking to Sky Sports about the key ‘penalty’ incident that happened during Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2:

“I have watched the incident back.

“It is a clear penalty.

“I don’t mind the referee getting it wrong on the pitch because it is a difficult decision.

“Things happen really quickly

“But I don’t understand what the point of VAR is then?

“It is there to correct mistakes.

“He (Amrabat) goes down my Achilles and pushes me in the back

“Casemiro comes and gets the ball but there are two fouls before that.

“I honestly don’t see the point in it…

“I knew straight away, that’s why I didn’t appeal, because I don’t mind the referee not giving it, it’s fast [how things happen].

“But I will wait for the VAR to check.

“You can see me telling my teammates, ‘Don’t worry, it is a clear penalty’… and then we carry on and I’m just like, my sock… I’ve got no sock left, how can it be possible [that VAR hasn’t directed the referee to check for a penalty].

“I don’t understand the point of it, I really don’t.

“I’m actually quite fond of it (VAR), I’m fond of the idea, it should be a thing that works in the league, but it’s not, there’s constantly too many mistakes.

“We’ve missed too many chances there to blame anybody else, but we could go one nil up and the game changes.

“It is a clear clear obvious mistake [for the referee not to give the penalty].

“Just, I don’t know how you can get it wrong?

“So either get rid of it (VAR) or get better[at applying it].

“It is very simple.”

What a mess this is.

Newcastle United and their fans left with absolutely no proper explanation of why Jarred Gillett failed to flag up the foul on Anthony Gordon and direct Robert Jones, the referee on the pitch, to go and look at the TV replays pitchside.