Gary O’Neil
GARY O’Neil admitted he was “surprised” Cherries were not awarded a penalty against Brentford, after seeing two strong claims waved away. In the first half, Jordan Zemura was sent flying after a sliding Kristoffer Ajer challenge just inside the box. Referee Thomas Bramall did not award a spot-kick, even after being recommended to review the footage by video assistant referee John Brooks. Then, in the dying seconds of the contest, Cherries’ loud appeals were waved away when Mathias Jensen handled in the box, as the game ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
Gary O Neil said: “To be honest, I think they’re both really tough calls. I can understand why they’ve had to review them, on the first case why they took a while to review it. I think Ajer obviously slips and his trailing foot does make contact with the ball. I’ve watched it a few times and it looks to me like he gets Jordan Zemura before he gets the ball. But it’s a tough call I think. As we know, all of us, normally once they’re sent to the screen to have a look, they generally stick with the VAR decision, so I was hopeful at that moment that he would. Unfortunately he didn’t. I would’ve liked it, but I think it’s a tough call.”
The two failed penalties calls follow two penalty decisions going against Cherries in recent weeks. Lloyd Kelly was penalised for a handball during the victory at Nottingham Forest, before Jefferson Lerma was also deemed to have handled as Cherries drew at Newcastle United.
Gary O Neil said: “Four VAR reviews in my four games and all have gone against us. Whether they’ve decided to stick with it or reverse it, they’ve always ended up going against us. So, fine margins. I think they could both be penalties. I think having looked at Jefferson Lerma’s and Lloyd Kelly’s, I think they’re similar. They’re really, really similar, for different reasons. But I think they’re real, tough calls, all of them. I know that the Jefferson Lerma one, when you slow it down, it looks like he moves his hand towards the ball. I can assure you he definitely doesn’t. His arm is just moving with his body. There’s no way you move your arm towards the ball like that at that moment, especially when you’re not looking. I was surprised he didn’t give one. The last one right at the end surprises me. I didn’t see loads of much of a check going on. I’ve spoken to him since and to be fair, he said he was told that there was nothing to check and that the handball was accidental. But as was Jefferson Lerma’s and Lloyd Kelly’s. They say the fact it hit Jensen’s foot first and then goes up onto his hand makes a difference. I don’t understand why, because it can still make a huge difference to an attacking moment for us. You never know where that ball is going to land. If it doesn’t hit Jensen on the hand, we’ve got bodies in the box, it could land anywhere. Obviously disappointed that we didn’t get either, but they were tough calls. I don’t think either were stonewall, blatant ones. Disappointed, but we move on.”
