While Leeds United’s focus will now be on the upcoming trip to Cardiff City, the debate over whether they should have had a penalty against Burnley rumbles on.
Leeds suffered their first league defeat of the season at the hands of the Clarets in a game of fine margins and very little in the way of clear-cut chances.
Mateo Joseph and Wilfried Gnonto had Leeds‘ only real sights of goal on the day but were unable to show the same composure Luca Koleosho did to net the winner.
Daniel Farke’s failure to find the answers against sides who are happy to sit in a low block has been a familiar story throughout his tenure at Elland Road.
However, without being overly critical of the officials, he certainly made his feelings somewhat known regarding the decision not to award Leeds a spotkick.
Gallagher verdict on Leeds vs Burnley penalty decision
Leeds really struggled to break Burnley down at all on Saturday and one of the only occasions they did was when Manor Solomon found a moment of space inside the box.
Just as he was about to set himself before letting fly, Burnley defender Joe Worrall came sliding in – arguably through the back of Solomon – to prevent him from shooting.
Worrall certainly did get some of the ball in his tackle but the strong argument from Leeds’ side is that in order to do that, he came from behind.
Former Leeds defender Aidy White actually believes the referee got it right and now former Premier League official Dermot Gallagher has waded in on the debate.
Speaking on the latest episode of Sky Sports News’ ref watch, Gallagher believes while initially it looked a penalty ‘all day long’, the referee actually made a ‘really good decision’ not to award it.
He said: “Brilliant refereeing, because the defender actually gets the ball. It looks a penalty all day long but he gets the ball. As he comes round here, he gets the ball, it’s a really, really good decision.”
Leeds can feel hard done to despite Gallagher claim
As is often the case with these former officials’ TV appearances, it is not often they disagree with the decisions made by referees.
Unfortunately this feels like it is the case again as tackling from behind as always been something frowned upon for numerous years.
Even players get the ball, it is very frequently deemed as a foul and so it would appear Leeds have got a little unlucky on this occasion.
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