Thomas Bramall should have brought play back after Dan Burn was pushed into an offside position during his goal against Man City.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that it was unfair to punish the Magpies for Ruben Dias‘ clever thinking on Saturday, 21 February.
Nico O’Reilly was the Citizens’ hero, popping up with a first-half brace, netting either side of Lewis Hall’s deflected strike, helping Man City to close the gap on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
Once Newcastle‘s free-kick was taken, Burn was certainly in an offside position, but it quickly became clear that the defender was not in the position of his own accord, being shoved there instead.
Dan Burn wrongly punished after being pushed by Ruben Dias
Burn rose the highest to head home inside City’s penalty area, but the referee’s assistant was delayed in putting his flag up for offside, with VAR confirming the decision.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “Had the ball been in play, I would have taken the linesman’s flag, but I would have penalised the push. Another approach would be to allow the goal.“It’s not in-play, there’s a push, and the referee goes into the melay and sorts it, much like they would at a corner.”To be fair to Burn, he was open and honest about the situation.
Speaking to the media after the game, he said, “Yes, he did [push me]. But as a defender, I do the same thing.”
He could have easily had a go at the officials or blamed the incident for the Magpies’ defeat, but instead, he admitted to attempting the same tactics outside of his own penalty area.
Newcastle had multiple second-half chances after his header, but with Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga all struggling in front of goal, Pep Guardiola’s side clung onto three points.