Newcastle United star escapes punishment from the Premier League - but not Matthias Jaissle
Sven Botman was lucky to stay on the pitch during Newcastle United’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Newcastle United defender Sven Botman should have been sent off for his challenge on Aston Villa striker Nicolas Jackson.
That’s according to the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel, which provides an independent assessment of key decisions in every Premier League match.
Johan Manzambi’s 36th-minute goal earned Villa a 1-0 win at St James’ Park, but the visitors felt aggrieved earlier in the game when Botman avoided a red card for a lunging tackle on Jackson.
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The Villa striker accused Botman of nearly breaking his leg. Referee Jarred Gillett showed the Dutchman a yellow card, and VAR upheld the on-field decision, meaning Botman avoided a straight red card and a three-match ban.
Sven Botman lucky to avoid a red card v Aston Villa
Four of the five members of the KMI Panel believed Botman’s challenge constituted serious foul play. However, three of the five supported VAR’s decision not to upgrade the defender’s yellow card to a red, ruling that the on-field decision was not a ‘clear and obvious’ error.
The KMI Panel said: “This was a split decision, with the majority of the panel feeling that a red card for serious foul play should have been awarded, 4:1.
“Botman was out of control, lunging at speed, making forceful contact with Jackson despite his leading leg missing the Villa attacker. The non-VAR intervention was supported, 3:2, on the basis it was not a clear and obvious error.
“When contact is made with the opponent after playing the ball, the officials have to take the following considerations into account: if there is a controlled action to play the ball, if there is available space into which challenge is made, an awareness of and consideration for the opponent, and whether the challenge is clearly reckless or involves excessive force/endangers safety.
“In this instance, the panel deemed that Botman lunged into a challenge at speed and made contact with Jackson, which therefore meant he should have been shown a red card on field for serious foul play.
“However, as highlighted by the panel vote, they did believe this was not a clear and obvious error given the high VAR threshold for intervention in the Premier League.”
Sven Botman dropped by Matthias Jaissle
Botman escaped punishment but ended up being dropped for the following match anyway, as Matthias Jaissle dropped the 26-year-old and centre-back partner Malick Thiaw for the 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday, as 34-year-old duo Dan Burn and Fabian Schar were called.
Explaining his decision, the Newcastle head coach said: “For me it's always important to mention that Sven and Malick did a good job in the last weeks, but today we went for more experience.
“For leadership skills in particular, to give stabilisation for a young group, for a group who was shaking a bit with the defeats, and we're really glad that it worked out.”