Shay Given analyses the injustices suffered by Newcastle United against Chelsea

Shay Given has been talking about his old club and what happened during Newcastle 2 Chelsea 2.

A games that United led 2-0 and eventually had to settle for a point.

Newcastle United should have had the match won by the break, 4-0 at least by the break, such was the dominance and the quality of chances created.

Even in the second half when Chelsea were much better and got their two goals, Newcastle still had the better chances to add more goals beyond that 2-2 scoreline.

As well as Newcastle’s inability to take more of their chances, there were a series of very questionable decisions that didn’t go in United’s favour.

Shay Given has been talking about some of them on Match of The Day.

Presenter Kelly Cates:

“Enzo Maresca said it was such a fun game between these two sides. However, Eddie Howe really unhappy at the end with some of the decisions, are Newcastle right to feel a bit aggrieved at the end of that game Shay?”

Shay Given:

“Yeah, I can understand, some of the decisions I disagreed with myself.

“I think Eddie Howe is angry at the end, especially with the [Anthony Gordon] penalty shout. I felt there was a penalty…a few decisions actually that the referee had to make today and a few tough ones, don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy.

“The first one comes in the first half, I think a really nasty challenge from Garnacho [on Ramsey]. He doesn’t make any attempt to play the ball, he goes over the top and clearly high up on Ramsey’s shin. I think that is a really dangerous tackle from Garnacho [who only gets a yellow card] and gets away with it.”

“This is the one Eddie is really angry about after the game. Gordon has got ahead of Chalobah [inside the penalty area] and Chalobah has made  no attempt to play the ball. You can argue that he has gone shoulder to shoulder but even if you watch his right leg and Gordon’s left leg, he comes right across him and for me, I don’t think that is a difficult decision, it is a stonewall penalty and not given again.

“This is in the 95th minute, I’m not asking for James [who was last man] to get sent off but he clearly holds Barnes’ arm back there and he would have a chance to score from that position.

“You can see why Eddie Howe is angry with the decisions.”

The referee on the pitch, Andy Madley, was woeful. However, I think far worse was Peter Bankes, the VAR. Madly should be embarrassed with his day’s work at St James’ Park but in this modern day of VAR, the massive emphasis is on the Video Assistant Referee to correct blunders the on the pitch referee makes. Or simply decisions he chooses not to make, knowing he has that VAR safety net to save him.

The three incidents Shay Given talks about were all shocking on their own, never mind to have all three impact Newcastle United in the same match, as well as other decisions (more on those later…).

The VAR Peter Bankes should have told Andy Madley to go to the screen and consider upgrading Garnacho’s yellow to a red. It was especially painful (not just for Jacob Ramsey) to then see later on Saturday, Simons get sent off for Spurs against Liverpool when doing the exact same thing on Van Dijk, as Garnacho did on Ramsey. Actually, I think Garnacho’s was far worse than that Simons one.

As for the Gordon penalty thing, it is just crazy for anybody to claim that is not a spot-kick, it was not a case of two players running for a ball and going shoulder to shoulder. Gordon had got to the ball and as he was about to play it, Chalobah just steams into him and ignores the ball altogether.

As for the one at the end, Barnes is through on goal and James pulls his arm back just outside the penalty area. A clear foul, not a penalty, but James had to be red carded and Newcastle with a dangerous free-kick in the dying stages.

There were a number of other really terrible decisions that went against Newcastle United and I will highlight only two more of them.

In the first half, a clever Nick Woltemade back heel hit the outstretched arm of Fofana. I have seen the argument for why a penalty wasn’t given, was because Fofana was supposedly trying to pull his arm back towards his body. He wasn’t, he simply was stood there with his arm well away from his body. Back in the old days this would never have been a penalty as accidental handball, but in the modern day, that is a penalty every time because these are the rules now, the outstretched arm wellaway from the body stopping the pass.

Also, late on when the score was 2-2, Harvey Barnes playing into the penalty area and Reece James came across and prevented him shooting with what as claimed to be a great challenge. I have watched the replays any number of times of this incident and I still can’t see any point in his challenge on Barnes, where James plays the ball. He plays the man and that should have been a penalty as well.

People say about VAR being the problem BUT it is not, it is still the officials trusted to implement it correctly. Peter Bankes is a useless referee on the pitch and an even worse one as a VAR, where he has all those replays to see exactly what happened. Both he and Madley should get long suspensions for how they oversaw Saturday’s match, it was an absolute shocker from them.

I think the thing is as well, is that as well as how clear these injustices were, they are in at least four of the five cases outlined above, incidents where each time the fact is that if Newcastle had got any of the four, then they all but definitely win the match for sure. Even the other one, when James should have been red carded at the end, it would still have been a very good chance to score from the free-kick.