Five takeaways from Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle: VAR law, technical issues and Joelinton

Newcastle United drew 1-1 at the Vitality Stadium as they picked up a point on the road despite an abject performance on the South Coast.

Bournemouth opened the scoring in the 37th minute through Marcus Tavernier, after Joelinton was caught in possession deep in United’s half. Newcastle generally struggled but equalised in the 76th minute through Anthony Gordon’s tap in at the back post following a lovely Harvey Barnes cross.

Here are our five key takeaways from the game:

Late VAR drama saves Newcastle

VAR has been contentious since it was first introduced to the Premier League in 2018. An often-heard refrain is that it isn’t the technology that’s the problem, it’s how it’s applied in England.

Well, VAR rode to Newcastle’s rescue yesterday afternoon by disallowing Outtara’s goal in the 93rdminute for handball. However, I would argue that it isn’t VAR’s issue. It’s a law’s of the game issue.

IFAB’s Law 12: Fouls and Misconduct states ‘for the purposes of determining handball offences, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit.’ (See below image) So, by the letter of the law the goal had to be disallowed when it hit the Bournemouth players bicep. Harsh and not in the spirit of the game – sure, a goal according to the laws – no.

Hall unlucky, Kelly not at the races

When the team was announced 75 minutes before kick-off (yep don’t get it either) I was surprised to see Lloyd Kelly starting at left back.

Firstly, it was harsh on Hall, who didn’t deserve to be rotated considering Kelly hadn’t played a minute at left back throughout preseason.

I’d listened to a few opinions throughout the week about how Kelly was so good you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference whether he played as a centre back or a full back.

Well yesterday he killed our left-hand side from an attacking perspective. Kelly barely moved beyond the halfway line in his 69 minutes on the pitch, hardly creating anything…

Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/08/26/five-takeaways-from-bournemouth-1-1-newcastle-var-law-technical-issues-and-joelinton/

Author : Jonathan Young

Publish date : 2024-08-26 05:45:33

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