Dermot Gallagher believes VAR official Lee Mason lead referee Michael Salisbury down a 'very narrow path' as he disallowed Newcastle's goal against Crystal Palace. The call to rule out the goal - on the basis of a Joe Willock foul on Vicente Guaita - has been one of the most talked about decisions of the weekend in a poor showing from VAR officials.
The former Premier League referee believes the Magpies should have been awarded a penalty for the foul on the Crystal Palace goalkeeper, with the goal right to be ruled out. Gallagher told Sky Sports: "I think when VAR has looked at it, that's what he's focussed on, he's focussed on this incident, Willock go into Guaita. Without doubt, if you take that incident in isolation, that's a foul.
"There's no doubt, the goalkeeper is going to clear the ball and it's a foul. I think he's focused on that and he's thought foul, what he hasn't done - I think he should focus here on the whole outcome [on the push] as that's when the foul occurs. Because he doesn't focus here, it doesn't [get given].
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"If you go forward it hits Mitchell and goes into the net. Now, it raises all kinds of issues because referees are all about options and I think the best referees don't close their options.
"He has three options there for me, he can either give a goal which is very risky. If you look, the ball isn't in the net when Willock collides with the goalkeeper, so I think you can't do that.
"He can either give a penalty - which I think it is because I think it's a foul and he's on safe ground - or he can take the option he did which I think is the worst option. But, I think that option has arisen because he was driven down a very narrow path of viewing that incident rather than the whole incident.
"It's difficult to say play on because Willock has crashed into the goalkeeper, he has [been pushed] and that's my point. You can't ignore one and ignore the second because the second would be a foul without the push. Because the ball wasn't in the net you need to go back [to a penalty]."
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