‘Wow’ – Keith Hackett stunned by Aston Villa controversy vs Newcastle
Aston Villa were fortunate on more than one occasion that VAR was not in operation for their FA Cup clash with Newcastle.
A brace from Sandro Tonali and a late goal from Nick Woltemade saw Newcastle secure a 3-1 victory away to Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday, in a game that was filled with controversy.
Tammy Abraham opened the scoring after Douglas Luiz’s delightful dinked ball from a free kick, though replays showed that the goal should never have been allowed to stand.
At the time the ball was played, Abraham was quite clearly standing in an offside position, but the flag stayed down by the linesman’s side.
Much to the surprise of Keith Hackett.
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Tammy Abraham goal should have been ruled out
The quality on show for the opening goal was remarkable, and it was quite clearly something that Villa had worked on behind the scenes.
Luiz disguised a perfect ball over the top to Abraham, who chested the ball down before firing the ball into the ground and watching it bounce over Aaron Ramsdale.
But as soon as the ball reached Abraham, Newcastle fans were calling for the flag to go up, and even more so after he found the back of the net.
Replays showed that the reaction was justified, and Hackett was stunned that the goal was awarded.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, he said: “Wow, the assistant referee should have flagged this offside. The Shoulder of Abraham is ahead of the defenders.
“The goal should not have counted.”
VAR would have also hindered Aston Villa after other controversial moment
In all honesty, there was probably more controversy at Villa Park on Saturday night than there was quality.
And while one of those moments worked against Villa with Marco Bizot’s red card, there was a second (and a third) incident that went in their favour.
Had VAR been in operation, Unai Emery’s side could easily have been reduced to nine men after Lucas Digne’s challenge on Jacob Murphy.
It was late, and bordering on dangerous with the way he made contact, but Kavanagh opted for a yellow card for the Frenchman.
Replays showed that it was a strong challenge, to say the least, and quite comfortably worthy of a red card.
And that was before Digne handled the ball a few yards inside his own penalty area, only for a free kick to be awarded.
A day to forget for Chris Kavanagh, and also for Aston Villa.