It’s easy to forget just how bad referees are, right? I know that Chris Kavanagh and his team put in a particularly appalling performance in this Aston Villa v Newcastle United match, but the fact that these people are put in charge of the game we love is both embarrassing and extremely worrying.
Have linesmen become so reliant on VAR that they don’t even look along the line anymore? I saw, watching it live, that he was offside, so how couldn’t someone with a much better vantage point and who has been trained to do it see what I saw?
If they are too reliant on VAR, then what is the point in having them? To give corners, throw-ins and goal kicks? I’m sure someone could knock up some technology to replace them entirely easily enough.
The issue isn’t just that the offside was missed — it’s that assistant referees now appear hesitant to make proactive calls, waiting instead for VAR confirmation. That hesitation slows the game and erodes authority. They are supposed to keep their flags down in the Prem, so maybe that behaviour was ingrained and he realised too late? I am probably being too generous.
Kavanaugh had already made his decision to only book Digne when he went across to Murphy, who was lying on the deck nursing his shin. Why couldn’t he go across and look at the injury before making his decision? The foot was clearly high, so surely he must have thought no contact was made? The lacerations across his shin proved otherwise, as clear a red card as you are likely to see this week.
To be fair to him, he got the Bizot sending-off spot on, but he waved away the Hall penalty appeals without a thought. It just felt like he didn’t want to make a big decision, but the Villa keeper eventually forced him to.
The Digne handball non-penalty was the icing on the cake. At no point was Digne out of the box. He jumped in the box, landed in the box, and he took a couple of steps which also kept him in the box. It seriously boggles the mind.
Fortunately for us, justice was served and we walked away with a deserved victory, which is really what I want to be talking about. But what stood out wasn’t the chaos — it was Newcastle’s composure within it.
Sandro Tonali was class and deserved the stroke of luck with the deflection for his first; his second was sublime. He seemed to be playing his more preferred box-to-box game, getting himself more advanced when he could and giving himself the chance to affect the game at both ends.
Ramsey was quality. I’m beginning to really like the look of him. He battles extremely hard and is getting more and more composed on the ball. Positionally, he was a little all over the place at times in the first half, maybe trying a little too hard and pressing when he shouldn’t have, making himself easy to play around, but he seemed to strike the perfect balance in the second.
I thought Nick Woltemade looked much more comfortable in the number 10 position and knits the game together really well. In the second half he got into the box more too and it was great to see him break his duck. I reckon if he were to replicate the movement of the second half more often, he will become a bit of a weapon.
Murphy obviously needs more game time; he is failing at the basics too often, but to his credit, he got Bizot sent off and should have had Digne sent off too.
Osula needs minutes as well. The poor lad looked completely off the pace for large stretches but he worked hard and it is good to see him back out there.
All of the defence was good.
Tripps had his best game in a while; Burn and Thiaw looked untroubled and cohesive, and Hall is quickly turning into Lionel Messi. The number of times he has gone past three or four players this season is staggering, and he was unfortunate not to win a pen, and get an assist when Elanga lost his footing. Bizot being sent off and then Villa sacrificing their width made both Hall’s and Trippier’s nights much easier, but they both did a brilliant job helping us at the other end of the pitch. Hall often tucked more centrally, which released Tonali to roam a little higher, and Tripps stayed very wide, giving an outlet constantly.
There were a couple of occasions where the two in midfield weren’t where they needed to be in transition — they gave Rogers too much time and space when he drifted in from the wing — but it was much improved from Brentford and the previous Aston Villa game. I was terrified when I learned that Bruno is going to be out for two very important months, but last night certainly gave me hope that the season isn’t dead in the water.
Credit to Eddie and Mad Dog too. They seem to be finding solutions to some really difficult problems and they deserve to be celebrated for that. On to Azerbaijan on Wednesday. A result there, off the back of a great week so far, would be just the tonic to dispel the unpleasantness of the last month or so.