BBC pundit Garth Crooks slams an incident which involved a Leeds United player and even urges a lifetime ban to be handed out.
The 63 year old former footballer reacted at Watford’s disallowed goal in their 1-0 defeat to Marcelo Bielsa’s side at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.
Diego Llorente returned to the Leeds starting lineup and helped his side win their first Premier League game of the season, Christian Kabasele poked home an equaliser in the second half, but was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Kabasele was judged to have fouled Leeds captain Liam Cooper – and the strike was chalked off, with VAR getting slammed.
“Boy did Leeds need this victory,” Crooks remarked in his verdict on the BBC Sport website. “The reaction by Diego Llorente was that of a striker and it was enough to seal the points – but it shouldn’t have. Yet again VAR gets involved in a situation it should not have got involved in and when it did it still got it wrong.
“What is the point of this system? Watford’s disallowed goal was incorrect and almost certainly contributed to their manager Xisco Munoz getting the sack hours after this result. It was Watford’s Christian Kabasele who was fouled in the box and the goal should have stood.
“I don’t know who was operating VAR but he shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the technology ever again.”
MOT Leeds News said via their site: “Got away with one. There’s no doubt that Leeds were fortunate to escape without conceding a goal against the Hornets.
“Kabasele’s effort looked legitimate and the officials ended up bailing out Meslier and Cooper.
“However, on the balance of play, it’s hard to say anything other than Leeds were well worth the three points.
“Ultimately, it led to Munoz’s dismissal on Sunday, but no one could deny Leeds their first league win of the 2021/22 campaign.
“It now sees Leeds heading into the international break in a positive mood, and enticing fixtures against Southampton, Wolves and Norwich City lie in wait following the resumption of club football, and Whites supporters can start getting excited again.”
Ian Wright has also insisted that Watford’s disallowed equaliser should have stood which could have given them a point against Leeds United.
“Yes, they absolutely should have had a goal,” Wright insisted on Match of the Day.
“I don’t see how that isn’t clear and obvious once you have seen it back. It should been overturned, one million per cent.
“They have got that so wrong for Watford. They didn’t play well but they could have come out of it with something and maybe built from that. I’m baffled.”
Twitter users reacted as pundit Garth Crooks slams at the Leeds player incident before he urges a lifetime ban…
@LUFC_Arizona: It was a goal. But we also had a nailed on penalty not awarded.
@dennis67oland: How is that a foul? Should be 1-1
@MikeDuffy_26: Still no idea how this was disallowed.
@JoeEfc171: There’s nothing wrong with that?
@JackWFC1: HOW THE FUCK
@Duffy9057: Awful decision.
@aaron_bennis10: We had a goal disallowed because Meslier’s gloves are made of soap. No matter how bad we were, the refs in this league are something else
@ChldishStanbino: we don’t deserve it but that could’ve very easily gone our way
@AliJHCameron: What’s the point of VAR when a perfectly good goal is ruled out
@andywyatt61: A terrible decision what a joke!
@gloryhornet15: Absolute disgrace. Kabasele was being fouled
@NWBiCurious: Cooper fouls Kabasele at a corner. They grapple. Leeds’s GK fumbles the ball into his own net. Goal disallowed for a Watford “foul”. And where is VAR for this injustice? Absolutely nowhere, because Watford aren’t “big six.”
@BaitVic: Kabasele is going for the ball, the defender has no interest in trying to get to it. Both wrestling with each other but only one is interested in the ball. #watfordfc
We deserved nothing from today but i’m not sure kabasele does anything wrong here pic.twitter.com/CBgReZjyXR
— Cucho (@CreamyCucho) October 2, 2021
Player ratings
Leeds: Meslier (6), Firpo (7), Cooper (7), Llorente (7), Dallas (8), Shackleton (7), Phillips (7), Klich (7), Raphinha (8), James (8), Rodrigo (7).
Subs used: Roberts (6), Struijk (n/a).
Watford: Foster (7), Rose (7), Troost-Ekong (6), Tufan (6), Sissoko (5), Femenia (5), Sarr (5), Dennis (5), Sierralta (5), Kucka (6), King (5).
Subs used: Sema (5), Joao Pedro (5), Kabasele (6).
Man of the match: Raphinha.
Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa: “The amount of chances, the amount of balls we had to attack, made us think we could have scored more goals. But as we defended well, the triumph was never in danger.
“It’s a detail that is very necessary to build victories [clean sheets] and today we avoided that so it didn’t create any danger.”
On Watford’s disallowed goal: “It’s not a benefit [of the doubt], it is an application of a rule.”
Watford manager Xisco: “I don’t think about this [the disallowed goal], I’m thinking about the performance.
“I’m disappointed with the performance. In the first half, it was not on our level, we were a little disordered, we leave big spaces and I don’t agree with the first half. But the second half, there was a little more order, but the capacity for our team was attacking poorly in situations.
“We need to improve. We need to know exactly what is one point in the Premier League, what is difficult about getting the points here and giving more consistency in the performance.
“We can be more ordered, we can stay more compact, we can play more with the same idea. We can give better every day, we can train better, we can improve faster and with the level of the Premier League, this is the moment to take that step forward.”

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