Dermot Gallagher says referees are powerless to correct mix-ups like the one that occurred during Fulham’s trip to Bournemouth.
Marco Silva was left furious after confusion with the fourth official saw the wrong player substituted off at the Vitality Stadium.
The incident occurred after 57 minutes when Silva looked to make a triple change, the first of which was to bring Adama Traore on.
But instead of displaying the number 20 for Sasa Lukic, the fourth official – Tim Robinson – showed the number 30 for Ryan Sessegnon.
Sessegnon looked confused as he came off the pitch, before Silva tried to usher the ex-Tottenham star back onto the field to correct the mistake.
But with Traore already now on the pitch, referee Michael Oliver ruled that Sessegnon would have to make his way to the bench with the substitution already complete.
Fulham then completed their next two changes before the game resumed, leaving Silva and Sessegnon perplexed as to why they hadn’t been able to complete the desired change.
It was a decision that didn’t help Fulham as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against the Cherries on the south coast.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Silva said: “It was a complete lack of communication with the fourth official. He was probably more concerned with other things and not doing his job really.
“We’ve seen many many times with the lack of communication and in three changes he didn’t give us the time to change again.
“For us, his attitude is really strange and his decision because next week it is going to be different.
“It’s really strange.
“The player was there but he didn’t let us do what we wanted to do and many times we see that lack of communication. It wasn’t a good night.”
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher then appeared on The Sports Bar to try and make sense of the decision.
He explained: “What they’ve done, they’ve put the wrong number up, haven’t they?
“The guy who has written the card for the fourth official has put the wrong number on it, Sessegnon has gone off and the player’s come on so the substitution is complete.
“What happens in law is that once a player leaves the pitch and then another player comes onto the pitch then that substitution is complete and it’s irrevocable.
“It’s just how it is.
“I was saying this morning, there was a handball and he’d scored and someone said ‘that’s not very nice, Dermot’ but as referees some things we just don’t like but you’re hamstrung.
“You’ve just got to do it and unfortunately for Michael Oliver and Tim Robinson, this was one of them.”
Bournemouth’s win has seen them move up to eighth in the Premier League and level on points with Fulham.
For Silva’s side it was a missed opportunity with the side missing the chance to go within touching distance of sixth position in the table.
