Match Officials Mic’d Up: Was Jhon Duran’s red card for Aston Villa v Newcastle the right decision by Anthony Taylor? | Football news

Anthony Taylor sent off Jhon Duran in Aston Villa’s Boxing Day defeat by Newcastle – despite being advised by two of his colleagues on the pitch that the challenge on Fabian Schar was not a red card.

Taylor showed Duran a straight red card after he was deemed to have stepped on Schar deliberately.

The decision left Aston Villa manager Unai Emery fuming after the game, who said: “Three games for this red card is hard to accept. There was no action with the intention of kicking him.

“We work a lot with him to teach him. He goes the way we decide for him, but the referees have to be fair and make decisions with time.”

Aston Villa were later unsuccessful in their appeal to overturn the three-match ban.

On the latest edition of Match Officials Mic’d Up, PGMOL boss Howard Webb addressed the incident, including audio of the match from the officials involved.

What officials said

Judge Taylor: “Get a grip…”

4. official person: “It looks random from here.”

Second assistant referee: “So, Duran gets on his back. To me, it’s a reckless act and nothing more. He kind of tries to stop and then he gets in the wrong place.”

Judge Taylor: “All right…”

Second assistant referee: “So Duran beware.”

Judge Taylor: “Wait, him [Schar] keep somewhere else here [on his body].

Assistant referee one: — He holds it between his legs.

Judge Taylor: “I’m going for a red card.”

VAR: “Okay, we got a red card on the field.”

Referee Taylor shows the red card and says: – Nowhere near the ball.

VAR: “I’m checking the red card decision on the field. OK, so there’s clear action studs, raking studs, over the back.”

Referee Taylor, addressing the players: “If it’s wrong, I’ll change it, okay?”

VAR: “Okay, show me that again? We’ve got studs that go through the butt and up.”

Repetition operator: “I can show you a wider angle if you want?”

VAR: “Please…”

Referee Taylor, talking to the players: “He’s nowhere near the ball and he’s put his nails in it.”

VAR takes ten seconds looking from a wider angle and says: “I’m happy. Tayls, I confirm the red card decision on the pitch. Check complete.”

Webb’s verdict: The referee was in the best position to see the incident

PGMOL Chief Howard Webb:

“You can hear different opinions on the comms. The fourth official makes a comment based on what he saw, the assistant referee suggests it could be a yellow card. But by far the best-placed referee in the match is the referee, who is right behind the situation.

“He sees Fabian Schar do that clean attack – and then Duran takes a few steps and then moves his right leg from right to left and onto the back of Schar, who is on the floor. He thought it was an intentional act by Duran and one of violent behavior.

“It’s always difficult to read a player’s mind, you have to evaluate the actions we see, the physical evidence to make our judgments. And in this situation, the referee saw the action, he thought it was a red card offence.

“And the VAR saw the movement of that foot on Schar’s back and did not feel that the referee’s call on the field was clearly wrong – he probably agreed with it – and it remained as a call on the field as a red card.”

Owen then argues the point – like devil’s advocate – that Duran is becoming unbalanced and asks if this will affect thinking?

“You need a level of safety to send a player off, the referee had that. He’s got a great eye for it, he’d see the dynamic movement when two players come through and challenge the ball.

“Then he sees him, what he felt was the right foot coming from outside to inside, going somewhere else, it could have continued to go past the player or to the left or right of the player.

“But the referee considered that the right foot that landed on the opponent’s back was violent behavior and sent him off. The review will always be over after the referee’s call has been awarded as a red card for violent behavior.”

Webb discusses more incidents on Match Officials Mic’d Up

Howard Webb also looked at five other Premier League incidents in the latest edition of Match Officials Mic’d Up. Press play on the videos below to hear his thoughts…