Dermot Gallagher delivers verdict on 3 controversial incidents in Leeds clash v Man City
Dermot Gallagher has said that Andre Marriner was right to send off Liam Cooper in the Leeds United win against Man City.
He also sided with the referee on two other incidents that Leeds fans weren’t happy about.
Liam Cooper was sent off after a VAR review saw his yellow card upgraded to a straight red in the game at the Etihad.
Cooper got the ball but injured Gabriel Jesus in the follow-through.
Leeds were winning 1-0 at the time and ended up leaving with an unlikely three points after some heroic defending against the champions-elect.
Talking on Ref Watch on Sky Sports on Monday (11.30am), Gallagher said the decision was the correct one as host Rob Wotton asked about a similar challenge in the Burnley v Newcastle game.
“Yes. The difference being, you look at Tarkowski, he goes to play the ball. He has no idea that Longstaff is there,” Gallagher said.
“When Cooper goes to play the ball he knows exactly where Jesus is. His point of contact is very high with studs leading. It’s excessive force and when you see this angle, you can see it’s not just one foot that connects, his other foot goes through.
“It’s impossible to compare them two tackles.”
Asked about the challenge from Raheem Sterling on Raphinha, Gallagher said, “You see the point of contact, his foot’s low. With Cooper, he’s well off the ground, Sterling isn’t. That’s what you’ve got to be mindful of.”
On the Fernandinho incident late on that left Raphinha’s thigh heavily strapped Gallagher said, “What I would say it’s completely cynical, he knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Lots of people would say he should be sent off for that but unfortunately the law doesn’t allow for that.
“Is it reckless? Yes. Does it seriously endanger the safety of an opponent? I don’t think so. There’s a covering player. I think the referee has to default to a yellow card.”
The C word
Getting beyond the point that Raphinha was injured by the tackle, the big issue here is one of consistency.
By the letter of the law you could argue that Cooper’s challenge was a red. But the yellow seemed fine and Andre Marriner had a perfect view of the incident.
There was no intent from Cooper and he took the ball.
By contrast, a dangerously high boot from a Burnley player in the game against Newcastle went unpunished – a decision that was met by bemusement from the Sky Sports pundits.
The problem isn’t VAR here. It’s the application of the law.
The Cooper challenge was for a 50/50 ball. He had to challenge for the ball and the end result was just an unfortunate coming together.
The slow-motion replays made the challenge look much worse than it actually was.
It seems to us that officials are focusing so much on applying the letter of the law in some incidents, that they’re not taking into account the reality of playing the game.
Even that wouldn’t be so bad if they were consistent across the board.
They’re not doing that, though, either. It’s no wonder fans are up in arms.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Surprised at Leeds fans’: Adrian Durham slams Whites fans, makes ‘small club’ dig after pile-on