Remember when VAR was supposed to fix a lot of the controversy in the Premier League and reduce complaints about refereeing decisions affecting the outcome of matches? That was a long time ago.
In fairness this appears to be an example of the new handball rule being the issue rather than VAR, but the review system was involved in yet another controversial disallowed goal between West Ham and Sheffield United.
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West Ham thought they had scored, the replay showed the ball was headed into Declan Rice’s arm from point blank range and that was enough to give the foul.
Rice and Jamie Carragher had a moment of agreement after the game as they took to Twitter to criticise the decision:
totally agree carra. He’s headed the ball onto my arm?! where am I supposed to put it if I’m in a running motion? Really don’t get it, gutted. https://t.co/OIsTZ0Ju0R
— Declan Rice (@_DeclanRice) January 10, 2020
We all know that the decision would be unlikely to go the other way if it happened against the defender and that’s what’s causing a lot of issues. It’s currently one rule for attackers and one for defenders which is starting to ruin the game.
In a weird way it’s almost fascinating to see how big an issue will need to arise before anything changes.