TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — What next? Defenders playing with their arms gaffer-taped to their sides? Their wrists handcuffed behind their backs? A requirement that defensive players shall have their arms amputated from the shoulder down before signing their first professional contract?
This may sound absurd, but the suggestions are only as absurd as the handball rule in its current format.
There was, really, very little Eric Dier could do when Andy Carroll headed the ball into his arm from about two yards away. An arm that was outside his body, admittedly, but an arm hanging in the air simply due to the way he had jumped to challenge the Newcastle United striker for the ball.
Dier had his back to the ball because he had not put his arms out to block the ball’s path but had merely jumped with Carroll, as any player would do in that position.
Late drama at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Eric Dier is penalised for handball… despite having his back turned to play ????Did Newcastle United deserve the penalty?
Posted by The i Paper Sport on Sunday, 27 September 2020
There were few calls for the handball, bar Carroll who had made a similarly speculative shout a few minutes before as Newcastle desperately sought a late equaliser and it was not until the Video Assistant Referee started poking around and the ball went out for a Tottenham Hotspur corner at the other end of the pitch before the decision was made.
So Newcastle scored the equaliser with their first shot on target deep into stoppage time. Spurs manager Jose Mourinho stormed down the tunnel, and who can blame him? His goalkeeper coach, Nuno Santos, was sent off after the final whistle for protesting.
Could we possibly return to a time when handball is about a player deliberately – or at least obviously – putting their hand or arm in the way of the ball to block its path?
Shambles, grim, ridiculous, ludicrous, killing football, ruining football: they were just some of the words and phrases used to describe what happened to Dier. Although, arguably, far from killing football, a penalty decision at the death that so infuriates one of the game’s most famous managers to ensure one of the most undeserved points in its history provides plenty of entertainment and ensures the game remains very much alive.
But there can be no denying that on the flip side these handball decisions are disrupting the essence of football in a way that no-one can surely want, can they?
Roy Hodgson made an articulate assessment of the state of the handball rule after an incident in Palace’s defeat to Everton and Mourinho and Steve Bruce both joined his criticism of the new rule after Tottenham’s draw with Newcastle.
While Mourinho went into sulk mode, Bruce was the more emphatic of the two managers about it, even though his side had earned a wholly undeserved point from the new rules.
Meanwhile, “RIP Football” was trending on Twitter, so a swell of supporters clearly shared their views.
Yet while all the controversy may add to the entrainment it chips away at football’s soul and something has to give.
???? – "Whoever is in involved in this – stop it. You're ruining football." @Carra23 is ???????????? happy with the decision to give this as a penalty – your thoughts? ????
???? Watch on Sky Sports PL
???? Follow #TOTNEW here: https://t.co/uj3WDoD7fa
???? Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/PVj58lp9Lk— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 27, 2020
When so many people are united in their utter dismay at something – managers, supporters, players – the game’s rule makers have surely got to accept that something fundamental is wrong.
Bruce said afterwards that while he benefited from it on Sunday it would undoubtedly come back to bite him at some point and that if we are not careful all we are going to talk about is handballs and VAR.
Barely a week has gone by without a debate about VAR since it was implemented at the start of last season. There was that brief reprieve when coronavirus suspended play but here we are again, debating VAR and now with the new twist of handball.
The Premier League maintain that correct decisions have improved since the technology was brought in, but why does it feel as though people have never been angrier about the officials’ decisions?
Or perhaps that is what the people who sell the Premier League “product” actually want. Does anyone really want to talk about the game any more, about the goals or the passing moves or whether the manager got the tactics right?
Part of the Premier League’s great appeal is the characters and controversies and storylines and explosive new plot lines are being created faster than an episode of EastEnders.
If the managers all come together to revolt, that will merely be yet another one.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2GfOCia
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