Motherwell aggrieved by Celtic tackle that risked World Cup dream as penalty comparison made
Jens Berthel Askou believes VAR should have intervened
Jens Berthel Askou complained that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain risked shattering Elijah Just’s World Cup dream with a late challenge that left the New Zealand player writhing on the ground during Motherwell’s 3-1 defeat at Parkhead.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was booked and Askou expressed surprise that referee John Beaton was not invited to review the incident just six minutes into a high-octane meeting between the second and fourth placed teams in the Premiership. The Motherwell manager accepted the late tackle had been “clumsy” as opposed to “vicious”.
He compared this to the game's defining moment when full back Emmanuel Longelo impeded Daizen Maeda at a corner midway through the second half. Although Beaton initially awarded a goal kick, a VAR review led him to overturn the decision, award a penalty to Celtic and send off Longelo. Substitute Tomas Cvancara scored from the spot to make it 2-1 after Motherwell had taken a first half lead through Just.
“I have seen that turn into a red card a lot more often than the penalty that was given following a fight for the ball in the box (between two players),” said Askou. “Fair enough, that’s the call.
“I don’t see anything vicious in the tackle, it was just a little bit clumsy. But it is also a tackle that almost wipes out Eli’s opportunity of going to a World Cup. Thank God he was able to keep playing. There was a same incident with the same player (in the second half) where he again could have had a second yellow and maybe should. These are the things you sometimes need to go your way. If not, you need to be extraordinarily good to counter that. We were good but not that good.”
Askou said Just was left looking as if he’d been “in a war” at the end. “He's a very skilful player who plays extremely close to the pressure, played an outstanding game out here, even at left full-back at the end, he was still playing as a 10 and a winger at the same time, trying to get something out of the game for us.
“He's very, very sore. He looks swollen down the leg. It doesn't look good. It looks like he's been at war. You have to take the cuts and the bruises and the knocks and then trust that the referees will do what they need to do to look after him. I can't see why he wasn't called to the monitor in that case, but what’s done is done.”
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