Former top-flight official Mark Halsey gives his verdict on whether Romain Saiss should have been sent off for his goal-line clearance in Wolves 1-1 draw with Newcastle.
The Magpies were held to a draw on home territory after Ruben Neves bagged his first-ever-headed goal in senior football.
Steve Bruce’s men could have secured all three points, though, when Jacob Murphy teed up Joelinton following a mazy run, but the Brazilian striker’s shot was blocked on the line by Wolves’ centre-back Saiss.
The ball appeared to strike the 30-year-old’s arm before ballooning over the bar. However, it was deemed to be in a natural position, and therefore, the play was allowed to continue.
In an exclusive interview with This is Futbol, Halsey was asked whether he thought it was handball or whether the referee made the right decision.
Halsey had this to say on the incident. (15:28)
He said: “If it was a deliberate error, then I think VAR would have got involved. I mean, I had to look it a few times and I couldn’t tell, so if you can’t see after that first or second replay then you don’t get involved. And when I watched it again, I wasn’t sure if it was in that in that red zone, where it’s an offence, or the green zone, where it’s not handball.
“I think it was a tough tough call and I think the right wasn’t a penalty.”
In our view, the right decision was made on this occasion. Law 12 states that it is a handball offence if the hand/arm has made the player’s body unnaturally bigger or the hand/arm is above/beyond the player’s shoulder level.
As neither of these two situations occurred, Saiss blocked Joelinton’s shot within the laws of the game and deserves credit for some good defending.