Chris Sutton savages ‘really daft’ Rangers star after 3-1 loss v Leverkusen
Chris Sutton has slammed Rangers defender George Edmundson for the incident that gave Bayer Leverkusen a penalty in his side’s 3-1 defeat at Ibrox on Thursday evening.
The centre-back was penalised for a handball after a VAR referral for a handball.
The 22-year-old atoned for his error somewhat during the second half when he headed home a lifeline for the Gers, but a late strike from the Bundesliga side left Steven Gerrard’s men with a mountain to climb in the second leg.
And Sutton was quick to criticise Edmundson.
Speaking on BT Sport, as per the Scottish Sun, he said: “The error is raising his arm and making himself bigger.
“I thought it was a penalty. The referee went over to the monitor, which we haven’t seen down south a lot, and makes the decision.
“You can see he raises his arm and you have to say if it was at the other end would we be saying it is a penalty as well?
“It’s a really daft decision by [George] Edmundson – everybody is aware this is a VAR game.”
Does Sutton have a point here?
Loyalties and biases aside, it’s hard to disagree with him here.
Edmundson has his arm in an unnatural, raised position, and even though the ball is struck from a short distance away, he cannot expect to get away with that kind of thing when VAR is in effect.
That’s not to say that Edmundson has closed down his man with the express intention of handling the ball, but the reality is that we all know how stringently the rules are enforced now, and the Gers were always going to suffer as a result of it, especially with the video referee involved.
In other Rangers news, ‘Ridiculous’ – Darren Gough delivers reaction to Coronavirus update on Gers v Celtic.