Key details emerge after controversial Newcastle United incident - Aston Villa won't agree
Aston Villa felt Newcastle United defender Sven Botman should have been sent off for his challenge on Nicolas Jackson.
Premier League refereeing chief Howard Webb has backed the decision not to send off Sven Botman during Newcastle United’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Johan Manzambi, who turned down a move to Newcastle in favour of joining Villa, scored the only goal of the game after heading home Joao Gomes’ cross in the 36th minute.
But before the Switzerland international opened the scoring, Unai Emery’s side felt aggrieved when Botman avoided a red card for a lunging challenge on striker Nicolas Jackson, who later accused the Dutchman of nearly breaking his leg. A VAR check took place but the officials at Stockley Park stuck with referee Jarred Gillett’s on-field decision of a yellow card.
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Several former referees and pundits have questioned why Botman was allowed to remain on the field, but PGMOL chief Webb believes the officials came to the right decision.
‘High-end reckless challenge’ - but why it wasn’t a red card
On Match Officials Mic'd Up, Webb explained: "We've seen quite a lot of robust tackling in the Premier League. This weekend we saw quite a few examples of strong tackles going in; it's part of the English game, the Premier League and what people like. We want to embrace that but we also have a responsibility to ensure players' safety.
"Many of those situations that we've seen with those types of tackles are subjective - the referee's having to make a determination in the moment on how much force is used and the nature of the tackle.
"We've really tried to encourage referees this season to make decisive on-field decisions, and in this situation we see the referee make a judgement on Joelinton's tackle by playing advantage and then Botman comes in.
"The referee in the moment, on the ground, sees it as a reckless challenge - no doubt a high-end reckless challenge - as Botman comes in and gets a touch on the ball.
"There's obviously some speed he comes in with. The VAR looks at that decision and tries to identify whether that was clearly wrong.
"We don't want the referee's decision to be re-refereed by the VAR; we want the referee to have ownership of the decision and the VAR to only step in when there's an element that's clearly wrong.
"So if the VAR had seen strong stud contact from Botman's extended leg into the ankle or shin of Jackson, or there had been a closing of the scissor, I think we'd have probably come out with a different outcome after the VAR had looked at it.
"But he doesn't see that. He realises it's subjective, and he allows it to stay on the field with the referee's call standing. Equally, if that had been a red card, for sure it would've been check complete by the VAR as well.
"So, it's a good example really of how the referee's call is working in the Premier League this season. A lighter-touch approach: let the referees referee the decision and the VAR step in when there's something clearly really wrong."