Referees chief Howard Webb has explained why Diogo Dalot was not given a red card for his risky challenge on Jeremy Doku when Manchester United clashed with Man City in last weekend’s derby.
The Portugal international caught his opposite man on the knee, prompting referee Anthony Taylor to issued Dalot with a yellow card – but the full-back was not out of the woods yet as the decision was under review by VAR.
Former referee Mike Dean was among those the question the decision when Dalot’s card was not upgraded, saying on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday that it was ‘100 per cent a red card’.
But PGMOL boss Webb was adamant that the officiating team had made the correct call based on the ‘speed and intensity’ of the challenge.
‘The officials on the field saw the actions of Dalot, they saw him stretch forward with his foot, he touches the ball, and then there’s contact on Jeremy Doku,’ Webb said on Match Officials Mic’d Up. ‘They deemed that to be a reckless action and therefore worthy of a yellow card.
‘I know other people think it’s clearly red. I don’t agree – I think there’s a mix of considerations.
Diogo Dalot clattered into Jeremy Doku during the early minutes of the Manchester derby
The Portugal international was able to stay on the pitch after he was deemed not to have committed serious foul play
‘I know that when we look at this, we see that the point of contact is on the knee, but we also have to factor in speed, force and intensity. You’ll not see many red cards in the Premier League for serious foul play that don’t involve those things.
‘Now, we evaluate those things through a full-speed view of the incident. Without looking at it at full speed, you get kind of a distorted view. You don’t get a true picture of how much force and speed there was in the challenge.
‘That foot touches the knee, comes off pretty quickly. We can see on slow-mo that it does touch that knee. But at full speed, when you play it in real time, you can see there’s not a great deal of speed in the action. Not a lot of intensity.
‘We were heavily criticised a few years ago for using slow motion and freeze frames, because people said this is not reality, it’s not how the game is played.
‘When you slow it down it can look a lot worse – and it does. When you freeze frame it, you can make a lot of situations look like red-card offences.
‘So, it’s difficult for me to hear people make a judgment on this just by analysing freeze frames and slow motion, coming to the consideration that it’s red on that basis.’
Dean was not alone in his verdict on Dalot’s contentious challenge, with Alan Shearer also in disbelief that the defender was allowed to stay on the pitch.
‘I think VAR got that terribly wrong. For me that was a clear red card,’ the Newcastle icon said. ‘Forget about whether the contact was “glancing” or not.
‘I can understand why the referee hasn’t given it, it might have been difficult for him to see it, but when the VAR has two professionals looking at that, it should have been a very easy decision to give a red card.’
On live coverage of the match for Sky, Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane also took issue with the VAR’s in-game statement that it had been ‘a glancing blow’.
‘That’s not a glancing blow, that,’ Daniel Sturridge protested. ‘That’s taking a knee in a boxing match.
‘That right there, it looks like a red. If I’m Doku, I’m staying down. If he stays down longer there…’
‘He’s helped him definitely,’ Keane added. ‘I agree with you.’
Dalot staying on the pitch in turn helped him secure a win to kick off Michael Carrick’s second stint in the Man United dugout, with the hosts claiming a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford.
