‘Mike Dean dumbstruck by VAR incident in Brighton vs Aston Villa’
Mike Dean was left utterly bewildered after a VAR incident took place in Aston Villa’s 3-0 win over Brighton.
Following a tense first half in which VAR was the main talking point, the Villians switched into gear in the second half, cruising past the Seagulls thanks to their loan army.
Villa are in pole position to sign Marcus Rashford permanently and his first Premier League goal for the club, in the 51st minute, may force the Midlands side to speed up the process of signing the England international.
Villa are also keen on keeping Marco Asensio past this season, and once again, the Spaniard made his case with a goal off the bench, having done the same in both legs of Villa’s Champions League match up with Club Brugge.
Finally, it was the turn of Donyell Malen who was left out of Villa’s Champions League squad, to find the back of the net, scoring in the 100th minute after being brought on late in the game.
However, a decision from referee Stuart Attwell left Dean and the Sky Sports studio utterly dumbfounded in the first half.
Aston Villa denied ‘stonewaller’ penalty
With the scores still tied at 0-0, Jacob Ramsey drove into the penalty area, dancing past fellow England Under-21 international Jack Hinshelwood, before being brought down.
After an excruciating VAR wait, in which the magnifying glass was brought out to determine the extent of the contact made, no penalty was given.
This caused a moment of chaos on Sky Sports Soccer Special, ex-Arsenal legend Paul Merson called it a “stonewaller”, with Tom Cairney and Danny Mills agreeing.
However, with no penalty awarded, all eyes turned to ex-Premier League referee, Dean for his opinion.
A bemused Merson asked (8.23pm): “Mike! What’s happening Mike?!” Dean, shaking his head, responded: “I don’t know. I think they’re still looking at it.”
The pundits then chimed in in unison by saying: “The game’s restarted!” Dean then added: “It just looks like he’s dangled his leg to play the ball, he hasn’t touched the ball whatsoever, and kicks Ramsey’s left leg. So for me, again, I think it’s a penalty.”
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa cruise to victory but questions once again asked of VAR
Football Insider Verdict
Back in the good old days, prior to VAR’s introduction in the 2019/20 season, when a player was brought down in the box, there was a good chance they would get a penalty.
These days, there is an agonising, almost laughable set of criteria with which each incident must meet for the officials to settle on a decision, which often ends up still being the wrong one.
Had Villa failed to win, this would have been a much more contentious decision than it already is.
| 2024/25 Premier League stats | Ramsey |
| Appearances | 22 |
| Starts | 16 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 3 |
| Minutes | 1,318 |
Ramsey was clearly fouled in the box, Hinshelwood was left flat-footed by the winger’s dribbling and brought him down, end of.
The underlying issue in moments like these is match officials and referees failing to understand that these are simple decisions and fans want them to be made simply.
Spending minutes carefully going through each frame to see how much contact was made leaves no one satisfied, instead, moments like these need a simple, cursory look, in normal speed. If there is contact, then it is a foul, if not, move on.