The former player-turned pundit was speaking about Newcastle United’s penalty award against Everton on the US version of the Overlap
Gary Neville has described James Tarkowski’s pull on Sandro Tonali as “pure stupidity”. The centre back conceded a penalty as a result of the incident during the first half of Everton’s weekend game with Newcastle United.
Jordan Pickford went on to save from former teammate Anthony Gordon on the way to a goalless draw at Goodison Park.
But decisions from the match are still providing fodder for debate as we get deeper into the international break – including whether or not Dominic Calvert-Lewin should have been awarded a spot kick in the second half.
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Few people have disputed that Tarkowski’s sustained hold on Tonali should have been a penalty but one element of the call has provided a talking point – one that was rooted in a call in the Liverpool match at Crystal Palace earlier on Saturday.
In that match, Marc Guehi had penalty claims waved away after he was held by Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.
The Premier League’s match centre explained: “The referee’s call of no penalty for the challenge by van Dijk on Guéhi is checked and confirmed by VAR – deeming that the challenge was not sustained holding and had no impact on the play.”
The final part of that statement – that the incident “had no impact on the play” drew some attention after Newcastle were awarded a penalty that evening. While Tarkowski’s holding was sustained, at no point did it appear as though Tonali would get the ball as a short corner was played to Jacob Murphy, who shot high and wide as players jostled in the box.
For Neville, discussing the decisions on the Overlap US, both were right. The difference, he suggested, was the “stupidity” in Tarkowski’s actions compared to what he agreed was a brief pull on Guehi.
After stating his belief the van Dijk call was correct, he said: “There was a decision later on in the day during the Everton vs Newcastle game where Tonali was pulled down by Tarkowski and he wouldn’t have gotten the ball either.
“There’s no way that that swung ball in would have got to him. But I did think that was a penalty, even though it wasn’t impacting the play. Just because of the almost pure stupidity and the aggression of the hold.”
Explaining that call, the match centre suggested the context was different as it said: “The referee’s call of no penalty for the challenge by Tarkowski on Tonali is checked by VAR, who recommended an on-field review deeming that this was a non-footballing action. The referee then awarded a penalty to Newcastle United.”
The decision not to award Calvert-Lewin a penalty after he appeared to be brought down by Dan Burn was not discussed.