Ex-Premier League referee fumes over Aston Villa v Liverpool incident after David Coote controversy
Mark Halsey has slammed David Coote for a lack of consistency as Aston Villa weren’t awarded a penalty against Liverpool.
The Villans suffered a 2-0 defeat at Anfield on Saturday 9 November but felt hard done by after Pau Torres wasn’t awarded a penalty after his shirt was pulled by Conor Bradley.
The Northern Ireland international pulled the Villa man to the floor before clearing the ball but Coote waved away any appeals.
This has left former Premier League referee Halsey fuming, telling The Sun on 11 November: “I thought they got away with one there Liverpool.
“All you ask in a game of 90 minutes is consistency because after that, about a minute later, Kamara was cautioned for a holding offence that was nowhere near as bad as that. So obviously in that game, David Coote wasn’t consistent with his penalising of holding offences.
“If he penalises Kamara, he’s got to give that as a penalty. I think had that penalty been given, Liverpool could have had no complaints.”
David Coote slammed for Aston Villa decision v Liverpool
It is safe to say that Coote is involved in much more controversy now than a penalty decision in a 2-0 win for the Reds at Anfield.
With that being said, Villa fans are still unhappy with decisions that went against them which ultimately cost them and stopped them from taking any points from Merseyside.
Ollie Watkins was taken down by Ibrahima Konate in the first half, which was awarded against Villa for an unknown reason as the England international wasn’t booked for diving.
This was less controversial than the challenge from Bradley on the Spain international, clearly grabbing hold of his shirt as the free kick came into the box.
Given that VAR took a look at this and decided not to send the match official to the pitch side monitor, away supporters were left raging both in the ground and on social media.
It isn’t just Villa fans who believe this should have been a penalty with an ex-Premier League referee in Halsey in full agreement.
In other Aston Villa news, Villa have been named as the frontrunners bid to sign Ipswich Town star in January.
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