Fulham boss Marco Silva slams VAR call that ‘made things easy’ for Newcastle United

Fulham boss Marco Silva slammed the VAR decision to send off Nathaniel Chalobah during his side’s 4-1 loss to Newcastle United.

Chalobah received his marching orders just seven minutes in following a late challenge on Magpies midfielder Sean Longstaff.

Referee Darren England initially awarded a yellow card but was told to review the incident at the VAR monitor by Mike Dean at Stockley Park.

Tierney upgraded the card to a red, much to the anger of Silva, who hit out at VAR for a lack of consistency.

“(It was) a harsh tackle from Nathan in that moment,” the Cottagers boss explained. “It was clear to him it was a yellow card and of course, after the decision from Mike Dean, it changed everything completely.

“To take one decision like that and advise the referee differently is strange.

“It was a harsh tackle but the problem is I haven’t seen consistency on this. It made the afternoon look strange for us and I’m sure in the next few weeks, we’ll see more tackles like that and it’ll be a yellow card and VAR will decide it will be OK.

“That is tough for us to understand because there is no consistency with these decisions and it makes people like me and the players not understand.

“It made things easier for Newcastle. Our first-half was not at the level it should be.”

With Fulham a man down, Eddie Howe’s side took full advantage and opened the scoring four minutes through Callum Wilson.

Miguel Almiron netted a brace and Longstaff also got on the scoresheet before Bobby Decordova-Reid pulled a goal back in the closing stages.

The win - the club’s second of the campaign - moved Newcastle up to seventh in the Premier League table.