Referee may have made a big blunder in Leeds vs Burnley - opinion

09/15/2024 02:45 AM

Leeds United fans may feel hard done by as referee James Bell appeared to make an error during the Championship clash with Burnley.

Daniel Farke‘s side headed into the international break in high spirits after a really impressive win in the Championship, but things just didn’t work out yesterday.

Leeds suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Burnley at Elland Road. A number of missed chances proved to be the Whites’ downfall in a game that they really should have won.

Mateo Joseph missed a golden opportunity in the opening couple of minutes as he put a one-on-one chance wide of the post.

Luca Koleosho netted the game’s only goal 15 minutes later as Burnley broke away on the counter-attack, with some of the closing down being rather questionable as he approached the box.

However, referee James Bell may have made an error that could have changed the outlook of the game…

Referee James Bell may have made a big error in Leeds vs Burnley after Joe Worrall’s challenge on Manor Solomon

Leeds fans will no doubt be pleased that VAR isn’t plaguing games in the Championship, but today’s incident is perhaps one where a second look might have been beneficial.

In the 36th minute, Manor Solomon latched onto a ball in the Burnley penalty area and was about to get a shot away when Joe Worrall came from behind with an outstretched leg to try and win the ball.

The ball went forward off Worrall’s toe, but it appears as if he went through the back of Solomon to get to the ball, as his leg makes contact with Solomon’s leg before he prods the ball forward.

Worrall gains an unfair advantage by making contact with the leg of Solomon in order to reach the ball and stop a goalscoring opportunity.

Everyone in the stadium appeared to see the contact but the referee.

Leeds reporter Beren Cross, who was at Elland Road, tweeted out what he saw.

What is Leeds’ record like with errors?

Daniel Farke revealed (as per Mirror) that Leeds had been apologised to a whopping 12 times at one point last season for refereeing errors, so this isn’t anything new.

"I expect myself to be spot-on with my decisions when there is so much at stake. If you want to be in charge of such a (big) game, you have to do the same if you are an official.

“I have 12 apologising letters at home already during the season with offside goals and penalties not given. If we would have used VAR during this season we wouldn’t be in the play-offs – we would have been promoted automatically.

"I'm pretty annoyed – it definitely wasn't offside. I feel like we should go with the rule that, when in doubt, you give the benefit to the attacking side.

“Everyone speaks about what these games are worth, so the decisions have to be right. Perhaps the whole stadium would be moaning if he gave it to the away side, but I have to make sure I'm not raging too much.”