According to The Telegraph, Eddie Howe has been left incensed by poor refereeing decisions going against his Newcastle side in recent weeks.
What’s the story?
Well, Howe is furious at what he’s seen from the officials in defeats to Leicester, Manchester City and Liverpool.
The 44-year-old has asked his staff to compile a package of footage to showcase the injustices against his Newcastle side.
Interestingly, The Telegraph add that there is a feeling of shock behind the scenes at how bad some of the decisions have been against the Magpies.
Specifically, James Maddison appeared to dive when forcing contact with Jamaal Lascelles to win a penalty in the 4-0 defeat to Leicester.
Then, when Diogo Jota scored an equaliser for Liverpool, Isaac Hayden was down holding his head, which in truth should’ve seen the game stopped.
Lastly, there was disbelief in the St James’ Park stands when Ederson wiped out Ryan Fraser inside the box, only for Martin Atkinson to give nothing.
Bizarrely, he didn’t even check the VAR monitor.
Newcastle and Eddie Howe have been hard done by
There’s no denying that some of these decisions have been harsh.
90% of the time, play is stopped when a player is down holding his head.
Strangely, The Telegraph claim that Mike Dean believed Hayden was holding his back rather than his head, which is why he didn’t pause the game.
However, a simple glance at the VAR monitor would’ve told him otherwise, so we don’t really understand that decision.
Then, Ederson’s challenge on Fraser was as stonewall a penalty as you can get – forget 90% of the time, those are given pretty much 100% of the time, with the exception of this incident.
Will Howe’s complaint have the desired effect? Only time will tell.
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