Premier League referees' chief Howard Webb has described Sven Botman's foul on Nicolas Jackson as a "high-end reckless challenge", but he backed the video assistant referee's decision not to intervene for a red card. Botman was shown a yellow card by referee Jarred Gillett for the Newcastle centre-back's 18th-minute challenge on Villa striker Nicolas Jackson on Saturday. The Dutch defender went in strongly and over the top of the ball, although contact with the opponent was made with his trailing leg. Gillett said the challenge was reckless even though Botman got a touch on the ball. VAR Stuart Attwell supported the caution because there was "no secondary scissor action" and contact was "not with the studs".
Jackson said after the game: "I know the referee said yellow card but it was so high and hopefully maybe next time a red card, but it was a yellow. I nearly broke my leg, but anyway, it's part of football." Webb said the on-field decision would have stood whether Gillett had shown a yellow or a red card. Villa won the game 1-0 through a 36th-minute Johan Manzambi goal.
On Match Officials Mic'd Up, Webb said that "robust tackling" is "part of the English game", but that the referee still had "a responsibility to ensure players' safety". He added: "We don't want the referee's decision to be re-refereed by the VAR. We want the referee to have ownership of the decision and the VAR to only step in when there's an element that's clearly wrong."
After seven rounds of Premier League games there have been 21 VAR interventions, nine of them subjective. At the same point last season there were only three, with none subjective. Mistakes are markedly down relative to the number of interventions: the Premier League Key Match Incidents Panel has judged one VAR intervention wrong this season, Man City's offside winning goal at Man United, with one missed penalty award to Arsenal at Aston Villa.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing