Clinton Morrison has weighed in on VAR’s decision to intervene and hand Newcastle United a late penalty against Tottenham for a foul by Rodrigo Bentancur on Dan Burn.
The penalty awarded to Newcastle on 86 minutes has been the main talking point following Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at St James’ Park.
While Spurs managed to rally and get a late equaliser after Anthony Gordon converted from the spot, many have questioned the decision for VAR to intervene.
Thomas Frank and Eddie Howe disagree on whether the incident constituted a penalty, with the Spurs boss being firm in his assessment that it was a mistake by VAR to intervene.
Clinton Morrison says VAR was wrong to give penalty against Tottenham
Referee Thomas Bramall did not initially award Newcastle a penalty when Burn went to ground, but the VAR asked him to rewatch the incident on the sideline monitor.
That led to Bramall changing his decision and ruling that Bentancur had obstructed Burn without having his eyes on the ball.
Reacting to the decision, former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We’ve got six games tomorrow, there’ll be loads of defending like that, let’s see if VAR calls that.
“Just stay out of it because there’s no pulling of the shirt or anything. He’s just standing his ground and not looking at it.”
The VAR put the referee under pressure
While it is fair to say that Bentancur did not look at the ball, replays clearly showed that Burn had a hold of the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, who was unable to pull out of the wrestling match even if he wanted to.
The referee’s initial instinct that both players were equally culpable was correct, but he was put under pressure when VAR asked him to re-examine the decision.
Bramall, being a relatively inexperienced official, was always going to give the penalty once he was asked to go over to the monitor.