Hackett Exclusive: Dan Burn deserved Newcastle red card vs furious Postecoglou

Yesterday at 05:59 AM

Dan Burn was lucky not to be sent off for Newcastle during their 2-1 win over Tottenham, Keith Hackett has said.

The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee exclusively told Football Insider that the centre-back knew what he was doing when he handled the ball during the first-half of the game.

Ange Postecoglou and many others associated with Spurs were left furious with the performance of referee Andy Madley and VAR during their defeat to Eddie Howe’s side on Saturday (4 January).

Now Hackett believes that Tottenham may have been hard done by over one incident early on in that game which appeared to go in favour of Newcastle.

Dan Burn avoids second yellow as Newcastle beat Spurs

With the score at 1-1 after both sides had scored inside the opening six minutes, Burn picked up the first yellow card of the game with 17 minutes on the clock.

The Newcastle centre-back was booked after bringing down Dominic Solanke just inside his own half as the Spurs man looked to get on the attack.

Eight minutes later, Postecoglou’s side were left frustrated not to see Burn shown a second yellow card, when he handled the ball just inside the opposition half in an attempt to stop a counter-attack.

Hackett has suggested that the 32-year-old was indeed lucky not to be sent off for that handball, given the way in which he made contact with it.

Asked by Football Insider if the Newcastle man was fortunate to stay on the pitch, the former referee said:

“Yeah I think he was. His arm was out, so his silhouette was larger than the norm, he knew exactly what he was doing, so I think he was fortunate not to get a yellow card for sure.

“Of course the difficulty is that on a yellow card VAR cannot come in, and this I think is one of the shortfalls of VAR, because in fairness to the referee he’s got one chance and he doesn’t know whether that ball’s connected or not.

“You make a decision in what you see and if you’re giving a second yellow you’ve got to be absolutely 100%. He wasn’t, and that’s why he didn’t give it. But on replays we can see that the body shape is larger, he’s lucky to have survived that.“

Alexander Isak would later continue the fine form that is prompting such speculation around his future to secure the win for Newcastle, meaning they now sit fifth in the Premier League table.

By contrast Tottenham are 12th having now won just two of their last 11 games in all competitions.

In other news, Newcastle have been tipped to land a £100million windfall if one thing happens this season.

For more Newcastle news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.

The post Hackett Exclusive: Dan Burn deserved Newcastle red card vs furious Postecoglou appeared first on Football Insider.