New VAR audio has emerged following Jhon Duran’s dismissal against Newcastle United on Boxing Day.
Duran was given his marching orders by referee Anthony Taylor after appearing to scrape his stoods along the thigh and back of Magpies defender Fabian Schar. Taylor stuck with his on-field decision, with Unai Emery’s side suffering a 3-0 defeat.
Criticism for referees has been high across the season so far with it now announced that more transparency will be given to supporters via audio. Michael Owen and Howard Webb recently broke down the incident which has been received positively.
Was Anthony Taylor correct to send off Jhon Duran against Newcastle?
On the latest episode of Match Officials Mic’d Up, Owen and Webb discuss the decision in great detail, with Webb first pointing out why Taylor chose to arrive at his on-field call.
“When the VAR looked back on it, he saw that movement of that leg onto the back of Schar and didn’t feel that the on-field referee’s call was clearly and obviously wrong,” said Webb. “Obviously, therefore, it stayed as an on-field call as a red card.”
Listen to the audio from VAR for Jhon Durán’s red card against Newcastle 🔉 pic.twitter.com/aVFgz0Gt3ZJanuary 8, 2025
The confusion comes as initially it appears as if fourth official Leigh Doughty seems to indicate he believes it should just be a caution for the Colombian forward.
Taylor then adds that he could see Schar “holding between his legs” before adding that he was “going red card” as Duran was “nowhere near the ball”.
Further bemusement was added as Taylor chose not to use the monitor to confirm his decision and instead stick with his on-field call. Aston Villa subsequently appealed the red card but was pushed back in their attempts to have his dismissal rescinded.
“This was actually appealed by Aston Villa and they didn’t win the appeal, but they felt strong enough about it to do so,” added Webb. “It is always hard to read players’ minds and we are judged by the physical actions we see.”
In FourFourTwo’s view, it doesn’t appear to us that Duran meant to do so and he is merely trying to regain his balance following Schar’s challenge. Taylor made an impulse decision and we commend him for doing so, but we are really on the fence with this one.
Aston Villa are back in Premier League action against Everton on Wednesday 15 January following the FA Cup third-round tie with West Ham United this weekend.
