Southampton defender Jan Bednarek has hit out at the decision to give Tottenham a penalty during their FA Cup defeat on Wednesday night.
Angus Gunn was adjudged to have fouled Heung-Min Son in the box, with the forward stepping up to score the winning goal from the spot in the 87th minute.
Bednarek, however, says that he does not think it was a penalty and has questioned why VAR chose not overrule the decision.
Speaking to the Daily Echo, Bednarek said:
When I saw it during the game I thought it was a pen.
But the after seeing the replay I don’t really think it is one but that’s football. We need to allow the referees to referee the game and take it.
I just want them (VAR) to check and make sure if it’s a penalty or not.
They still have time to make the decision and it shouldn’t matter if it’s a big team or a small team. If it isn’t a penalty they need to change it.
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It was a crucial moment in the match and ultimately decided the outcome, so it was imperative that the officials got the call right. Gunn appeared to get a touch on the ball with his foot, which then caused Son to begin falling to the floor. This then led to Gunn’s hand brushing Son whilst he was already falling, having already got a touch on the ball moments before.
Due to the slight touch from Gunn and Son already being on his way down, it becomes a subjective call on whether you think there was enough contact to warrant a penalty. The referee clearly felt that there was, although Bednarek disagrees, and VAR did not opt to overturn the decision. It was a very difficult decision to make and, due to the two different phases of contact, it could have gone either way, so it is hard to lambast the referee for making the call.
As Bednarek says, he also thought it was a penalty in real time. This shows why you cannot blame the referee for making the decision, whilst it also proves that it was not a clear-and-obvious error from the official. This could be why VAR decided not overturn the call, instead deciding to stick with David Coote’s decision.
