Football fans are in arms around arms.
Some controversial decisions in the English Premier League over the weekend sparked outrage when the VAR video review system came under heavy fire over the destruction of the sport.
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Leeds were stripped of a goal during their 4-1 loss to Crystal Palace when Patrick Bamford was deemed offside on believing he leveled the 1-1 draw.
His feet and body were well behind the last defender as he clung to a pass at the edge of the box, but one outstretched arm was enough for the referee to save the bacon from Crystal Palace.
A new pre-season rule that allows players to score with the top of their arm is why Bamford was brought to their knees.
Australian soccer host Adam Peacock tweeted, “Ffs are changing the law. Feet only ”, while Bamford tees off after the game.
“I don’t understand the rule,” Bamford told the BBC. “You can’t score with your arm. It makes no sense. It happened to me today, but I’ve seen it several times.
“It ruins football. You want to see goals. To have excluded for something like this is stupid.
“Even the referee couldn’t make sense of it. If the players and the officials can’t make sense of it … does it make sense? “
Former Premier League star Robbie Savage became an expert.
“His body is on his side, he leans over and points where he wants the ball,” Savage told BT Sport. “The line was drawn on his arm, where there is no handball, on his sleeve, they say, is offside.
“That’s pretty incredible. It’s the most incredible thing we’ve ever seen. Impressive.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s the worst decision I’ve ever seen in football history. “
There was more controversy in Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool (AEDT) this morning when Reds star Joe Gomez conceded a handball penalty, despite most judges agreeing he had no time to flank Kevin De Bruyne to go the way.
Gomez actually tried to move his arm to avoid contact, but he was too close to De Bruyne and the cross was too fast for it to disappear in time.
After the referee reviewed the incident with VAR, he pointed to the spot.
Manchester United legend Gary Neville told Sky Sports “In the real world this is not a punishment” and “the whole thing is nonsense”, while Liverpool champions Jamie Carragher was also furious.
“If you’re a defense attorney now, I don’t know what to do,” he said.
“We ask the defenders to run with their arms behind your back, that’s what we’re getting into. How can you defend yourself “
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Wolverhampton’s Max Kilman was also the victim of a recently controversial handball game in which Leicester missed a penalty in their side’s 1-0 defeat in circumstances similar to Gomez’s. Many believed again that he had no chance to get his hand out of the way for time.
Wolf trainer Nuno Santo said the VAR does not provide consistency and “until they get it right, we’ll keep talking about it – something we don’t want”.
British sports journalist Paul Hayward tweeted: “The Premier League is such a good spectacle that you need a brilliant plan to mess it up. It is not easy to spoil something so good. But they did it by punishing people for having guns (Bamford, Gomez).
“The handball law needs to revert to something like the old definition and VAR needs to stop meddling in offside calls unless they come up with a reasonable definition (i.e. no parts of the arm)?”
Regarding Bamford’s decision, Hayward wrote: “Punished for showing. Do we have no freedom of expression?
“VAR’s obsession with guns (handballs, offside) is getting weird.”
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