Emmanuel Agbadou’s red card against Fulham took the game out of reach for Wolves, but Mark Clattenburg says a mistake was made by VAR.
As if Wolves needed anything else working against them, they have fallen victim to VAR once again.
Ten minutes before the break, Agbadou took Josh King down with no other defenders back, earning a straight red card for his troubles.
The challenge itself was an indisputable foul, but something that happened in the build-up wasn’t checked, and it could have saved the Ivorian a walk down the tunnel.
Mark Clattenburg says VAR made a mistake with Emmanuel Agbadou
Agbadou was caught out by King who poked the ball past his defender and was taken to ground. But just moments before, the ball appeared to hit off the Fulham man’s arm, an incident that would have negated the foul.
The Premier League released a statement about Agbadou’s red, essentially saying the VAR decided no review was needed, but a referee who has officiated almost 300 Premier League games disagrees.
Speaking exclusively to Molineux News, Clattenburg explains the error.
He says: “Josh King handles the ball in the build-up and then proceeds to be brought down by Emmanuel Agbadou who denies him a goal-scoring opportunity.
“The VAR should have recommended a review as this handball was a deliberate handball and not accidental.”
If John Brooks had gone to look at the incident, he would have seen that the ball struck King on his upper arm, and would have revoked the sending off.
Wolves were victims of a VAR error against Everton just a few weeks ago, as well. Nothing new.
VAR error might have cost Wolves dearly
Look, it wasn’t a stellar performance from Wolves at Craven Cottage. They didn’t look like threatening much even with a full cast.
But Fulham weren’t playing well either. They grabbed an early goal out of nothing, looking equally toothless after that. This is a team that had lost four on the bounce, and there’s every chance Wolves could have fought back into the tie.
VAR was introduced to decrease errors and improve decision-making in vital moments, but the referee didn’t even get to see the handball that occurred.
Maybe it does work, just not for Wolves.