Jamie Carragher has blasted the authorities for “ruining football” after Newcastle were awarded a controversial late penalty at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday.
The away side hardly managed to fashion a single meaningful goalscoring chance during the 90 minutes but VAR intervened in added time to hand them a lifeline.
Referee Peter Bankes was instructed to review a handball decision involving Eric Dier on the pitchside monitor by the Video Assistant Referee.
While Andy Carroll did seem to head the ball into Dier’s hand, the Spurs defender was less than a yard away and had his back turned to the Newcastle striker.
As has been the norm in the new season so far after the change in the handball rules, Bankes decided to blow for a spot-kick, much to the Tottenham players’ shock.
After Wilson converted from the spot to hand the away side a point, Carragher went on a passionate rant urging the authorities to undo the damage that has been done to the game.
The pundit said on Sky Sports 27/09/20 – 15:50 (as relayed by Football.London): “It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s an absolute joke. Newcastle fans will be absolutely ecstatic, I can understand that. But everyone else in this country will say exactly what I’m saying and thinking.
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“Eric Dier is jumping for the ball, he has absolutely no idea where his arms are gonna be, it’s half a yard away from him, and hits him on the arm. He has no idea what’s going on.
“This is a joke, whether it’s the Premier League, the FA, FIFA, Collina, whoever is involved in this, stop it – you’re ruining football for everybody. Absolute joke.”
Spurs Web Opinion
As much as it is infuriating to have two points snatched away from us, the reaction to the decision suggests that this could be the final nail in the coffin. Given the outrage from pundits, fans, players and coaches across the board to the decision, the FA must surely now be looking to undo the new changes to the handball law that have made the sport such a farce.
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