Idrissa Gueye red card: Why Everton midfielder was sent off for slapping teammate Michael Keane

PGMO chief Howard Webb felt Idrissa Gueye left referee Tony Harrington with “very little choice” but to send him off for slapping team-mate Michael Keane during Everton’s win at Man Utd earlier this season.

Gueye saw red when the two came together following a heated discussion at the end of a Man Utd attack, with Gueye clearly raising his hand to his Toffees colleague.

Everton went on to win the game 1-0 despite the early dismissal, and boss David Moyes said after the game he felt Harrington rushed his decision. He later revealed a club appeal against the decision had been turned down but said he had been given “no reason” by the FA.

Replaying the audio of the incident and subsequent VAR review on the latest edition of Mic’d Up on Sky Sports revealed VAR official Paul Howard had viewed the contact as a “clear strike to the face” and confirmed Harrington’s on-field decision.

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WHAT THE OFFICIALS SAID:

Referee: “Red card on-field for a slap by [Gueye].”

VAR: “Checking the on-field decision of red card for [Gueye]… There’s an action by [Gueye]. I also want to check the action of Michael Keane here before that, please.”

Assistant VAR: “Okay yeah, I’ve seen a slap.”

VAR: “Confirming the on-field decision of red card. [Gueye] clear strike to the face of Michael Keane.”

WEBB’S VERDICT:

Idrissa Gueye was sent off for violent conduct, which comes under Law 12. According to Law 12, a player must be sent off if they use excessive force or brutality against an opponent, a teammate, a team official or a match official. So, it goes on to include teammates and it’s unusual, we’ve not seen many of these situations happen before.

But when the referee in this case sees Gueye clearly slap Keane, his teammate, across the face, he’s got very little choice but to act as per the Laws of the Game.

I’m sure the referee in this situation felt that he was put in a pretty difficult position – we want referees to use their personality – we used to always say Law 18 was common sense, the next law after the first 17, but we’ve also got to apply the Laws as well.

When it’s so clear that an act of violent conduct has happened, to the face, and it’s stipulated in the Laws of the Game that it has to be a red card, I don’t think you can do anything other than send the player off and the referee, in this case Tony Harrington, did the right thing.

Should Georginio Rutter’s equaliser vs West Ham have stood?

Georgino Rutter’s late equaliser in Brighton’s 1-1 draw at home to West Ham was checked by the VAR for two potential issues – a high foot and handball.

Charalampos Kostoulas’ right boot almost connects with the head of West Ham defender Konstantinos Mavropanos as he performs an overhead kick before Rutter controls the ball with the help of his right arm.

Rutters’ initial shot is saved and then he is teed up by Jan Paul van Hecke to score.

WHAT THE OFFICIALS SAID:

VAR: “Possible high foot, possible handball.”

Referee: “No. Goal.”

Referee, speaking to West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen: “There’s an accidental handball for me in the potential build-up, but it’s not a deliberate handball. It’s an accidental handball, so wait there.

“The bicycle kick’s never a foul for me. If it has hit his right hand, it’s an accidental handball, his hands are down there, for me. But they’ll have a look at it, alright?”

VAR: “It’s not immediate [before the goal]. So we’ve got to judge now only if that is a deliberate handball or not.”

Assistant VAR: “I don’t think it’s a deliberate handball. The ball strikes the thigh, bounces up, the arm is in a natural position. Van Hecke then plays the ball back to him so it’s not immediate – so I’d be happy to award.”

VAR: “It’s a non-deliberate handball. There may be an accidental handball in the build-up, but it’s not deliberate.”

VAR, speaking to referee: “Ok Simon [Hooper], confirming the on-field decision of goal. There is an accidental handball by 10, but it’s not immediately prior to the goal. It comes off the thigh and touches the arm. So confirm the on-field decision of goal.”

WEBB’S VERDICT:

This is quite an unusual situation because the player who eventually scores a goal, in this case Georginio Rutter, actually made contact with the ball with his hand in the attacking phase before the goal.

But what’s important is that he didn’t immediately score after that contact. For some years now, you haven’t been able to score a goal immediately after the ball hitting your hand or arm.

The ball hits Rutter’s hand, but it’s considered an accidental handball by the officials, he then shoots, Areola makes a good save, palms it out towards Van Hecke who actually then passes it back to Rutter to score.

It’s not an immediate goal, there’s a nice controlled pass by Van Hecke back to Rutter and that resets the situation and therefore the goal is allowed to stand as long as the officials consider this to be an accidental handball, not a deliberate handball and they do in this situation.

“Everything about what he does is pretty natural. He’s setting himself for that ball coming in, it goes onto his thigh first, and the arm never really moves. It’s still in the same position, it’s pretty low and natural and that is deemed a non-deliberate handball and, therefore, the only time you could penalise him is if he scored immediately, which he didn’t.

“So, I’m in agreement there with the officials, this isn’t a handball offence that you’d normally penalise. For example, if that was a defender in the penalty area, you wouldn’t give a penalty against them so I’m ok with it being deemed an accidental handball.”

On the high foot: “I think what we see is Kostoulas making really good contact on the ball with that athletic overhead kick, and there’s hardly any contact on the opponent in this case.

“The referee saw that in real time, we heard him mention it, and said it was good contact on the ball, the VAR looked at it as well and deemed it to be exactly that, a good playing of the ball without really much contact and if that would’ve gone top corner I think most people would’ve wanted it to stand.”

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Watch Match Officials Mic’d Up on Sky Sports Premier League at 8pm on Tuesday.