Tottenham Hotspur defender blasts VAR after Newcastle United penalty decision - Thomas Frank agrees
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Newcastle United latest news: Thomas Frank has blasted VAR following his side’s 2-2 draw with the Magpies at St James’ Park.
Thomas Frank has labelled the decision to award Newcastle United a penalty during the final stages of their draw at St James’ Park as an ‘absolute mistake’.
The game was finely balanced at 1-1 at the time that referee Thomas Bramall opted to change his initial decision of no penalty following a VAR check. The controversy surrounded some grappling between Dan Burn and Rodrigo Bentancur in the Spurs penalty box following a corner from Bruno Guimaraes.
Initial appeals from the Magpies man were waved away by Bramall, but VAR intervened and instructed the referee to check the incident again. Ultimately, it was decided that the Uruguayan international had fouled his opposite number and a penalty was awarded.
Anthony Gordon, who hadn’t scored a Premier League goal since January, stepped up to plant the kick into the Gallowgate net in a goal that looked like it had given the hosts all three points. However, a late retort from Cristian Romero ensured that both teams shared the points.
On the game’s main flashpoint, the decision to award Newcastle United a penalty, Frank told Sky Sports: “At 2-1 down it was an absolute mistake from the VAR.
“The ref did good to do the ref call and they encourage the refereeing call on the pitch. For me that is never a penalty.”
Speaking to Match of the Day, Frank added: “It's never a penalty, we want the ref calls on the pitch, to support that, it can only be a clear and obvious mistake. It's never a penalty in my opinion, there are ten of those a game.
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"I'm happy with our fans, there were 3,000 of them and we could hear them all game. Sometimes you need to suffer, after that we were very brave, calm on the ball going forward. There's a lot to love about the performance.”
Kevin Danso on Newcastle United VAR and penalty incident
Spurs had already tasted defeat at St James’ Park this season before travelling up to Tyneside this week after being beaten 2-0 in October’s Carabao Cup clash. Frank’s side had also headed to the north east having been defeated at home by Fulham on Saturday.
However, they showed spirit and resilience at St James’ Park to quieten their hosts and then looked very dangerous, particularly from set-pieces, when given the chance to attack. Romero, whose brace ultimately rescued a point for them, and Kevin Danso were particularly threatening from corners.
The latter spoke to Sky Sports post-match and delivered a verdict not too dissimilar from his manager on the VAR controversy: "It's tough,” Danso said.
“It feels like some weeks a ref will give it and some weeks they won't. We just have to focus and do exactly what we did today.
“It was a tough match, always difficult to come to St James' Park and it's always tough away from home. We showed the mentality that we had been working on throughout the season.”
Newcastle United and Spurs remain separated by just goal difference in the Premier League standings.