This season is all going to boil down to the narrative about penalties isn’t it?
Just like in 2016/17 when we missed eight of our twelve penalties that campaign, this time it could be one about spot kicks being given against us, or indeed not awarded to us, rather than the ones we don’t score from.
Controversy reared its ugly head in our direction again this weekend, as Newcastle United were awarded a penalty for a foul by Joachim Andersen on Callum Wilson, even though it looked as if contact was initiated outside the box, a decision that did not sit well with The Athletic’s Fulham correspondent Peter Rutzler, who found multiple things wrong with the whole incident:
I mean, wow. Could make a case for a foul outside the box and then the red card, but that's a dive in the area. Fulham unfortunate here. https://t.co/G38iblQknQ
— Peter Rutzler (@peterrutzler) December 19, 2020
Can Andersen be our long-term captain?
Yes
No
It certainly is a catalogue of errors, either it’s a free kick outside the box or a dive and a free kick the other way for Fulham. In whatever way you look at it, it can’t be a penalty. I’m very much pro-VAR in most scenarios, but when the people in charge of it aren’t using their common sense and seeing what is a pretty obvious foul outside the box, then you do have to question the standard of refereeing in this country.
I don’t want to put the blame solely on VAR for this, the technology and those at Stockley Park did their job by saying to go and have a look at it, but the referee on the pitch looked at it again and still got it wrong in my view.
What about you? What did you make of the penalty decision?
P.S: Just as an aside, I didn’t have a problem with Andersen being sent off, he was already on a yellow card so he was always going to be sent off in that scenario.