"That's violent conduct" - Dermot Gallagher debates Newcastle vs West Ham incident

As far as controversial incidents involving Newcastle United and officials go, the game against West Ham on Sunday was pretty low-key, but there was one that deserved the attention of Sky Sports Ref Watch.

Each Monday, Sky Sports News has a Ref Watch section in which former referee Dermot Gallagher sides with the officials while ex-player Jay Bothroyd disagrees. For the most part, anyway, sometimes Gallagher will, through gritted teeth, admit the officials made a mistake.

During Sunday's game at St James' Park, West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek sent Bruno Guimaraes to the ground on the touchline, and Bruno held on to the ball as the whistle blew for the free-kick.

However, Soucek, who was getting increasingly desperate to try and get the Hammers back into the game, kicked out at Bruno twice and were it not for the placement of the Brazilian's arms, those kicks would have landed on Bruno's head.

Dermot Gallagher sided with the officials 

Soucek was booked for the incident, and VAR left it at that, which, according to Dermot Gallagher, was the right decision as he told Sky Sports News on Monday.

"He flicked out at him. I think it's unwise, petulant. He's probably frustrated. Is it violent? I don't think so."

Meanwhile, Bothroyd had a very different view.

"To me, that is violent conduct. If his arm isn't there, he'll be kicking him in the head twice. 

"You'd see that as an act of violence." 

We're on the fence ourselves

Plenty of Newcastle fans on social media couldn't believe that a harsher punishment wasn't handed to the Czech, and we absolutely understand their frustrations.

However, the conversation between Gallagher and Bothroyd is a perfect example of how different viewpoints can massively change how an incident is interpreted. The fact that Soucek kicked out and it was near Bruno's face, to us, feels like enough to warrant a red card.

At the same time, though, the kicks themselves didn't seem to be with malice and were the type of kicks you'd do when trying to get the ball away from a difficult spot. We're not sure there was any intent to actually kick Bruno, per se.

The decision had no effect on the outcome of the game, so it's an easy one to move on from. I mean, it's not as if a player trapped the ball with his arm and set up a goal that led to a win or anything. (That was Bryan Mbeumo for Manchester United in case you didn't see it - an absolute shocker of a decision).