A former FIFA referee has now questioned the VAR call that saw Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams’ goal disallowed against Tottenham.
Tottenham Hotspur ended a worrying run of two defeats in a row in the Premier League last weekend after their 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest.
But while the draw saw Spurs earn their first point of the season, the performance was not completely vintage Tottenham, as the Lilywhites struggled to threaten Forest.
Tottenham went the entire game without managing a shot on target, and could well have easily lost the match had it not been for VAR, which disallowed a Forest goal.
Tottenham VAR controversy as new Neco Williams footage emerges after Forest draw
In the second half of the clash between Tottenham and Forest, Neco Williams thought he had put the Tricky Trees in front after a goal-line scramble.
The full-back was determined to force Morgan Gibbs-White’s chipped effort into the post, and he did manage that, but his effort was ruled out for handball by VAR.
Sky Sports has now revealed that, while new footage from the disallowed goal shows Williams handling the ball, at the time of review that was not the case.
Writing on their X page, they said: “New footage of Neco Williams disallowed goal vs Spurs show he did handball it. It was not available to VAR at time of the decision. So, were the officials right to disallow it based on the evidence they had?”
The Sky Sports Ref Watch section later played this new ‘tactical footage’, which clearly shows that Neco Williams did in fact handle the ball.
Former referee Dermot Gallagher said: “We know they got it right because we’ve seen subsequent evidence. Absolutely [from the new footage], you can quite clearly see it strikes his arm. It is the right decision.
“They [VAR] looked at it long enough. They studied it and studied it, and in the end they came to the conclusion that he handled it.
“The more they looked at it, the more they were going to be convinced he had handled it because if he hadn’t, they’d have cleared it very quickly.”
However, former Premier League striker Jay Bothroyd disagreed with the sentiment about the original replays shown to the VAR on the day. He said: “When I saw that straight away [before the release of new footage today], I thought it was inconclusive. You can’t tell from that view. I was looking at the right elbow more, and now that I have seen it, I can see the left hand, but initially it wasn’t conclusive to me.”
Even former Tottenham Hotspur manager, Tim Sherwood, said: “I’m the same as Jay. I didn’t think there was any clear evidence to suggest it was handball.”
Keith Hackett claims Spurs new footage could be AI
The concept of new footage sparked a reaction from former FIFA referee Keith Hackett, who believes the decision to cancel the goal was a clear error by the VAR.
Hackett told Football Insider: “When you look closely on the big screen at that disallowed Nottingham Forest goal, having played it on several occasions, it is actually inconclusive that the ball struck the hand or arm, either accidentally or deliberately. Therefore, VAR should not have intervened.
“And certainly, on the evidence I have witnessed, the goal should not have been ruled out. The law is specific, and I want to clarify that if the ball does strike the hand and arm, and it goes directly into the goal, then the goal would be ruled out. On this occasion, it is inconclusive that the ball actually made contact with the scorer’s hand or arm.”
He suggested that the officials should not have disallowed the goal based on replays available to them at the time. Hackett also strangely seemed to suggest that any ‘new’ clips could be ‘AI’.
Taking to X, the former referee did not hold back in his reaction: “This was not a clear and obvious error at the time of the event and the images available to VAR The goal should not have been disallowed Oh! New film clip available – have you heard of AI!”