PGMOL boss Howard Webb has defended Anthony Taylor’s decision to not send Diogo Dalot off within the Manchester derby, claiming the foul was ‘within the grey zone’ and never necessarily worthy of a red.
There was an early moment of contention in Saturday’s grudge match at Old Trafford as United defender Dalot glanced the highest of Jeremy Doku’s knee with the studs on the left touchline.
Doku was clearly in some comfort as he crashed to the ground in a heap on the Theatre of Dreams.
But match official Taylor decided the challenge only warranted a yellow card – a call that was ultimately supported by video assistant referee Craig Pawson.
The Red Devils would go on to secure a shock 2-0 victory over their bitter rivals in Michael Carrick’s return as interim manager, with Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu each scoring in an 11-minute blitz within the second half.
Many City supporters were up in arms when watching back slow-motion replays of Dalot’s controversial Tenth-minute tackle on Doku given the studs-up nature of the challenge.
A magnanimous Pep Guardiola was reluctant accountable the result on the choice, though, despite his side losing further ground on runaway Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Get your football fix
Don’t desire to miss the week’s biggest football stories? Metro’s exclusive football newsletter, In The Mixer, is your essential guide.
From the newest transfer rumours and managerial moves to evaluation of the largest games and quite a bit more, our experts have you ever covered.
Join here, it’s an open goal.
Anthony Taylor’s conversation with VAR Craig Pawson
AT: ‘I’m going yellow card here, it’s a look.’
CP: ‘Yeah, he does. There’s glancing contact on the knee. There’s no force but there’s glancing contact.
‘He’s tried to play the ball and he catches him with glancing contact. Are you able to see it? Are you able to see?
‘Glancing contact, there’s no force, he’s tried to play the ball. He flicks, he misses the ball, he catches him with the follow-through.
‘Yeah, I’m comfortable to verify the on-field decision. Tayls [Taylor], confirming the yellow card for Manchester United number two.
‘He tries to play the ball, he misses it after which he makes glancing contact onto the knee. There’s no force or intensity but he does catch him with the follow-through.’
AT: ‘Yes, I do know. That’s why it’s only a yellow since it’s glanced contact.’
On Mike Dean’s suggestion it was ‘100 per cent’ a red-card offence, Guardiola said: ‘You would say that, you might say that red card, different game. Many, many situations occur.
‘It is simple for me to come back here and say it needs to be a red card. It just isn’t about that; we won’t grow up if that’s the argument to win or lose a game. You will have to do higher, and we didn’t today.
‘We’ve got to have a look at ourselves. There are some teams that won 10 versus 11. Possibly we wouldn’t have won.’
Addressing the pivotal moment on the Premier League Match Officials Mic’d Up show alongside Michael Owen, PGMOL chief Webb said: ‘It did split opinion but I’ve also heard a variety of opinion that this could have been a red-card offence.
‘The officials on the sector saw the motion of Dalot, the saw him stretch forward together with his foot. He touches the ball after which there’s contact on Doku.
‘They deemed that to be a reckless motion and subsequently worthy of a yellow card.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Webb continued: ‘You’ll see on the sector that there’s not a variety of response to it when it happens in full speed.
‘The VAR’s job then is to determine if the on-field decision of yellow clearly or obviously mistaken.
‘Now, we talk on this show about a variety of situations that sit within the grey zone, where there’s a mixture of considerations. I believe that is one in all those. I do know other people think it’s clearly red but I don’t agree, I believe there’s a mixture of considerations.’
In response to Webb, slow-motion replays give fans a ‘distorted view’ of divisive moments like Dalot’s foul – and ‘the total mixture of considerations’ need to be taken under consideration.
‘After we take a look at this, we see that the purpose of contact is on the knee, but we also need to think about speed, force and intensity,’ Webb – who refereed the 2010 World Cup final – went on.
‘You’ll not see many red cards within the Premier League for serious foul play that don’t involve those things.
‘We evaluate those things through a full-speed view or the incident and without taking a look at it like that then you definitely get a distorted view, you don’t get a real picture of how much force and speed there was within the challenge.
‘Then we’ve got to slow it down, after all, to see the purpose of contact so other ways of taking a look at the video for various considerations, but we’ve got to contemplate the total mixture of them when deciding a final final result.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: ‘I might stay’ – David Seaman questions Arsenal star’s decision to depart in January window
MORE: Chelsea receive clear message after transfer talks to sign ‘special’ AFCON star
MORE: Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior responds to Enzo Fernandez PSG transfer links