Former referee Dermot Gallagher has criticised VAR for its role in Ryan Finnigan's baffling booking during Saturday's Dundee derby, accusing John Beaton and his team in Clydesdale House of trying to be 'microscopic'. Pundit Jay Bothroyd also called on referee David Dickinson to be stronger.
The incident occurred just before half-time during Dundee's 2-0 win at Tannadice, when United defender Abdoulaye Yoro was initially shown a yellow card after being adjudged to have brought down Finnigan on the edge of the box. After a delay, Dickinson was called over by Beaton to the monitor and returned to overturn the initial decision, instead booking Finnigan for diving.
The Dundee midfielder looked astonished, as did the viewing public who saw in the replay that while there may have been no foul from Yoro, Finnigan had clearly just tripped over his feet. In a slightly heated exchange on Sky Sports' Refwatch, Gallagher attempted to explain the decision and had sympathy for Dickinson, who he felt was put in a difficult position by Beaton and the VAR team. But eventually they reached a consensus – agreeing a contested drop-ball should have been the outcome.
Gallagher: VAR tried to be 'too microscopic'
Gallagher said: "My face was a bit like Finnigan's (when I saw it)! The problem here is that the VAR has tried to be too microscopic. It's not a foul (by Yoro), but that happens. Referees make mistakes on the field of play. The player's got the ball and the referee thinks he's got his ankle, which he hasn't, so he gets the yellow card for that. Finnigan then loses his balance and treads on the ball. That's why he goes over. So we've got a situation where it's not a yellow card to Yoro, but it's certainly not a yellow card to Finnigan. But by sending him to the screen, the VAR has said Yoro's got the ball and Finnigan has dived, which he hasn't."
Bothroyd added: "I don't even know what the referee is thinking to think that he's dived. All that's happened is he's tried to control the ball and slipped on it. How has that been a dive?! This is what I don't understand."
Call for a drop-ball restart
Gallagher continued: "He's gone over to the screen hamstrung because the VAR has said to him 'it's not a yellow card'. He's got the right to do that, but the only way he's got the right to do it is to say it's because the other guy has dived." Bothroyd responded: "How is he hamstrung? Can't he go over to the screen and say 'OK, it's not a yellow card, but he's not dived either'."
Gallagher replied: "He shouldn't have been sent over to the screen. There's your problem. It's a mistaken yellow card – that happens – but that's not the VAR's protocol. The baffling thing for me is the VAR has thought that he's dived. I get that on the field, at speed, you can make mistakes. When you watch it over and over again, you can see he catches his foot there, he's off balance, and he treads on the ball."
Bothroyd said: "The problem is with these people in the VAR room... It's not personal, but it's just about understanding the game. Everyone who's played the game, at any level, knows exactly what's happened there. Sometimes the ball just gets stuck under your feet. That's the black and white of it."
Tim Sherwood then chimed in to ask why the referee couldn't say it wasn't a foul, but it wasn't a dive either. He also branded it 'one of the worst decisions we've ever seen' since the use of VAR was introduced.
Gallagher and Bothroyd then continued – and reached the same conclusion. Gallagher asked: "If you get sent to the screen to that, how would you restart the game?" Bothroyd replied: "That's not my job. I just know that is not a dive. I'd do a drop ball."
Gallagher concluded: "I think that's a good outcome. Just give a drop ball. You go to the screen, you say sorry to the player who got the yellow card, you tell Finnigan you get it and he didn't dive. You drop the ball. And I think everybody would accept that. It's just the common sense approach and it would save all this debate to-and-fro."
