Dermot Gallagher blasts two referee decisions during Leeds win v Wolves
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says officials got two major red card decisions wrong during last Friday’s game between Leeds and Wolves.
Wolves took a 2-0 lead in the first-half, before a controversial second yellow card for Raul Jimenez after a collision with Ilan Meslier allowed Leeds to stage a comeback and win 3-2.
But while speaking to Sky Sports during ‘Ref Watch’ [March 21], Gallagher admitted that he believed that was just one of the decisions that officials got wrong on the night, citing a Joao Moutinho tackle in the build up to a Leeds goal too.
“I think it is very unlucky, the assistant gives it,” he said. “He has got a sideways on view, he [Jimenez] sees him collide late. He thinks he has gone in and tells the referee to give a second yellow card.
“The irony of it is, is that VAR can’t get involved, which means it is all or nothing because he’s already on the yellow card, he gets a second yellow card, he’s desperately unlucky to be sent off.
“I think he [Moutinho] gets really lucky, I don’t think this is a good tackle at all. He gets the ball, there’s no doubt about that, but he certainly catches Dallas, he catches him high with his studs and that’s the benchmark, isn’t it?
“He’s gone in with force and hit him with the studs. The game rolled on and it was being checked by VAR, but Leeds scored, they checked the goal and whether they lost it in the wash I don’t know. He got lucky.”
Evens out
We’ll just call this one even then, yeah? That seems like the fairest way to deal with all of this.
The card for Jimenez was deemed as harsh at the time and it absolutely threw the momentum into Leeds’ favour as they managed to score three goals after it to claim all three points.
But the lack of attention that was shown to Moutinho’s tackle simply because the move ended with a goal for the Whites seems to have been lost in the shuffle too.
It was a horror tackle from the veteran, who despite winning the ball followed through over knee high and caught Stuart Dallas flush with his studs.
Had Luke Ayling not scored a winner in stoppage time, then you can bet your house that we’d still be talking about that referee error, but because the affected team ended up winning it’s not spoken about. That’s how the cookie crumbles.
In other Leeds news, Phil Hay shares what positions Leeds want to sign for this summer, expects bid for named ace