Alan Shearer was furious with the VAR decision to award Brentford a second penalty against Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Newcastle were forced to come from behind to win 2-1 in west London after Ivan Toney converted the second penalty just before half-time. Toney failed to score from the spot the first time around, as Nick Pope kept out his effort following Sven Botman’s foul on Kevin Schade.
He did not make the same mistake again, however, with his penalty putting Brentford 1-0 up after VAR intervened to give them a second spot-kick. Alexander Isak was adjudged to have fouled Rico Henry from a corner with a high foot on the stooping full-back.
Former Newcastle striker Shearer was angry with the decision, which he felt was not justified. “Never ever clear and obvious. Another long wait. Bull****,” he tweeted. He then added: “Having said that it’s s*** decision. #NUFC have been poor in that first half also.”
Lots of Newcastle fans in his replies were quick to compare the decision to the high foot by Bruno Fernandes on Newcastle defender Fabian Schar last weekend. Schar was caught by Fernandes’ boot, but the VAR did not overturn referee Stuart Attwell’s decision not to award a penalty.
In the end, the decision in Brentford’s favour was not costly, with Newcastle coming from behind to win their fifth game in succession. Bees goalkeeper David Raya diverted Joelinton ’s cross into his own net to equalise before Isak made amends for his foul by scoring the winner.
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Shearer was much happier after the full-time whistle. He tweeted: “Great win for the Toon. Much better second half. Eddie’s changes at HT were brilliant.”
Eddie Howe brought on Anthony Gordon and Callum Wilson for Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy at half-time and was rewarded with a much-improved performance after the break. Newcastle regained third place with the victory after Manchester United ’s 2-0 win over Everton had seen Erik ten Hag’s side overtake them in the early kick-off.
The result could have been different, had Toney not failed to score from the penalty spot at the first attempt. It was a surprising mistake from the Brentford striker, who had scored 24 successive spot-kicks since missing in October 2018 for Peterborough against Barnsley.
Howe thought the VAR call on Isak was harsh but was delighted with the response from his side. "It was a very tough game. It was very physical, as we knew it would be. We suffered in the first half. But second half, what a response from a group of players that have played three games in six days. They were asked to dig really deep for the result but responded really well,” he told Match of the Day.
"I have only seen one replay [of the penalty]. I thought it was harsh. I thought the handball on Callum was also harsh, but that is just my opinion.”
