Alan Shearer agrees with Jamie Carragher on controversial decision that has impacted Liverpool

Jamie Carragher is adamant that Nick Pope should have been sent off in Newcastle United’s victory over Wolves.

The Magpies earned a 2-1 win at St James’ Park on Sunday to leapfrog Liverpool into fifth spot in the Premier League. The Reds’ shock 1-0 loss at Bournemouth leaves them trailing in the race for Champions League qualification.

However, things could have been different for Newcastle when their clash was goalless. Magpies goalkeeper Pope appeared to foul Wolves’ Raul Jimenez inside the penalty area after taking a heavy touch. However, referee Andy Madley was too far away from the incident to make a decision while VAR did not intervene.

Carragher, posting on Twitter, believes that Madley’s positioning meant that VAR had to step in. The former Liverpool defender wrote on Twitter: “Nick Pope should’ve been sent off & Wolves awarded a penalty at Newcastle.

“The directive from Howard Webb to try & stick with on field decisions as much as possible, was a mistake today. The referee was so far away there was no way he knew what had happened. It doesn’t matter who makes the decision, referee or VAR, as long as we get the right one more often than not.”

Newcastle legend Alan Shearer also felt that Pope was lucky to have avoided conceding a penalty. Shearer posted on Twitter: “That’s a very lucky escape. Could, probably should have been a pen after that mistake from Pope.”

Alexander Isak and Miguel Almiron were on target for Newcastle. Liverpool are six points outside of the top four with 12 matches remaining.