Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has called out Lyle Foster for throwing an elbow that got him sent off against Nottingham Forest on Monday night.
Foster was shown a red card in injury-time, as Vincent Kompany’s Burnley drew 1-1 at City Ground where the Clarets looked to be collecting their first league win of the season after Zeki Amdouni’s powerful shot in the 41st minute.
But former Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi scored a brilliant equaliser in the 61st minute.
However, Foster, who is his club’s top scorer with two goals, thought he had won the game for Burnley, scoring the 2-1 ball with 12 minutes to go. But the goal was ruled out after VAR review because Sander Berge was judged to have handled the ball in the build-up.
A few minutes later Foster was sent off by referee Robert Jones for violent conduct following a VAR review for swinging his right arm in injury-time against the chest of Ryan Yates, with Carragher saying it wasn’t a smart thing to do.
“I must say initially, I was convinced it wasn’t [a red card] when I looked at the angles through VAR,” Carragher said on Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football.
“I thought it was a coming together and tangle and ‘get off me’, but there was an angle that I saw later on and it made me think it comes to the right decision.
“When I look at it, yes, Yates got hold of him and ‘just get off me’ and he threw an arm a bit and a little bit of an elbow in the chest and Yates comes down but it was a really good swing and it was stupid thing to do.”
Brentford coach Thomas Frank, who was a guest, was asked by Dave Jones, if that was a good use of VAR.
“Yes, I think so. And I agree I think it is a red card,” he replied.
“At first, it was not clear but it is clear that he did it on purpose and too much power to swing his elbow.”
Foster, who is the first South African player to score in the EPL since Steven Pienaar did so for Sunderland against Hull City on 19 October 2013, is the first to be sent off since Pienaar got the red for Sunderland against AFC Bournemouth on 5 November 2016.
The 23-year-old Foster will now miss the next three matches for Burnley, who picked up their first point since being promoted from the Championship.
