Gary Lineker questioned two big refereeing decisions in Liverpool’s 3-3 draw against Newcastle on Wednesday night.
The match at St James’ Park was packed with incident, to say the least, with several talking points aside from the six goals which were scored.
The home side had grievances over a couple of calls in the final 15 minutes, a penalty claim for a Jarell Quansah challenge on Alexander Isak and Andy Madley blowing for full-time when the Magpies had been in the middle of a dangerous counterattack.
Lineker queries two refereeing decisions
Speaking on Match of the Day, Martin Keown was adamant that Newcastle should’ve had a penalty over the former incident, and when Micah Richards pointed out that the Liverpool defender got ‘a little touch’ to the ball, Lineker interjected ‘It’s still a foul’.
Then, when the pundits looked at the moment when the full-time whistle was blown with Eddie Howe’s team on the attack, the long-serving host of the BBC show observed: “There there’s this, full-time. The referee blows when the ball is at the halfway line, doesn’t he? I guess if time is up, time is up.”
Does Lineker have a point on those calls?
Firstly, on the penalty incident, we can understand why Newcastle may feel that Quansah fouled Isak, but replays showed that the Liverpool man got a toe to the ball, and it didn’t seem like a heinous error that VAR had to overturn. On another day, the on-field decision goes a different way.
As for what happened at full-time, again we empathise with the Magpies as they had a threatening counterattack abruptly cut short, even if the alloted injury time had just elapsed. Another official may have let that passage of play continue and then blown the whistle if the attack had ground to a halt.
In our view, they were decisions which would’ve annoyed us had they gone against the Reds, but neither was a blatant error by the referee.
In truth, Madley cut a frustrating figure for both teams, having dished out yellow cards far too frivolously on the night for some minor offences (a point stressed by Arne Slot afterwards), including the one for Alexis Mac Allister which means he’s suspended for the Merseyside derby.
Yet again, a thrilling Premier League match has left us debating refereeing decisions, which is an all too familar occurrence in what’s often branded as the foremost domestic division in world football.
