VAR: Howard Webb supports officials over decision not to give Diogo Dalot a red card

Howard Webb, the Premier League’s chief referee, has denied claims that his officials made a mistake by not sending off Diogo Dalot in the Manchester derby on Saturday.

Dalot was booked in the 11th minute of Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Manchester City for a high challenge on Jeremy Doku.

The Portugal international closed down Doku and extended his leg to try and intercept the ball. He dialed his buttons on the wing’s knee.

Video Assistant Referee (VAR), Craig Pawson, upheld Anthony Taylor’s on-field decision to show him a yellow card, saying the contact was a “glancing rather than excessive force”.

Webb, the coach of professional match officials, insists there were too many slow replays and that a yellow card was an acceptable result.

“The officials on the field saw Dalot’s actions,” Webb told match officials. “They saw him reach forward with his foot, touch the ball, and then there was contact with Jeremy Doku.”

“They considered it a reckless act and therefore deserving of a yellow card.

“I know others think it’s clearly red. I don’t agree with that, I think there’s a mix of considerations.

“I know when we look at this, we see that the point of contact is on the knee, but we also have to take into account speed, power and intensity.

He added: “You won’t see many red cards in the Premier League for serious foul play that doesn’t include these things.

“Now, we evaluate these things with a quick view of the accident. Without looking at it at full speed, you get a bit of a distorted view. You don’t get a true picture of how powerful and fast there is in the challenge.”

“That foot touches the knee, and it comes out very quickly. We can see in slow motion that it’s actually touching that knee.”

“But at full speed, when you play it in real time, you can see that there’s not a lot of speed in the game. There’s not a lot of intensity.”

“We came under a lot of criticism a few years ago for using slow motion and still frames, because people said that’s not reality, that’s not how the game is played.

“When you slow it down, it can look a lot worse – and it does. When you freeze the frame, you can make a lot of situations look like red card offences.

“So, it’s hard for me to hear people making a judgment on this just by analyzing the freeze frames and the slow motion, and coming to the conclusion that it’s red on that basis.”