Jamie Carragher slams handball rule after Newcastle awarded late penalty against Tottenham
Referee Peter Bankes awards 95th-minute penalty to Newcastle after consulting VAR and pitchside monitor; Andy Carroll headed ball into back of Eric Dier's arm, allowing Callum Wilson to score equalising penalty; Tottenham had led through Lucas Moura and dominated match
Monday 28 September 2020 14:39, UK
Jamie Carragher has slammed the handball rules after Newcastle equalised with a controversial late penalty against a dominant Tottenham on Sunday.
Referee Peter Bankes awarded Newcastle a spot-kick in the 95th minute of the game, after consulting with VAR and checking the pitchside monitor following Andy Carroll's header into the back of Eric Dier's arm.
The decision came despite Dier's back being turned and Carroll's header being from close range. Tottenham had been leading 1-0 since the 25th minute and had created a host of chances against Steve Bruce's side but Callum Wilson fired home the penalty to share the points.
An incensed Jose Mourinho stormed straight down the tunnel, while Spurs' protests continued after the final whistle.
It follows another highly controversial handball decision in Crystal Palace's defeat to Everton on Saturday.
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"It's an absolute disgrace. An absolute joke," Sky Sports pundit Carragher said of the new handball rule that has been brought in for this season.
"Newcastle fans will be ecstatic, I can understand that but everyone else in this country will say exactly what I'm saying.
"Eric Dier jumps for the ball, has no control of where his arms are going to be, it was a header half a yard away from him, hits him on the back of his arm, he has no idea what's going on. This is a joke.
"Whether it's the Premier League, the FA, FIFA, Pierluigi Collina, whoever is involved in this, stop it, because you're ruining football for everybody. Absolute joke.
"You've got more trouble on your hands Premier League, FIFA, UEFA, whoever is involved. Change this now!"
Neville certain interpretation of rule will change
Sky Sports' Gary Neville:
I thought it last weekend with the Manchester United, the week before with the Leeds one at Anfield... it's an absolute disgrace. I'm absolutely certain that rule is going to change in the next couple of weeks, in the sense of the interpretation of the rule. There's no way players, managers, coaches are going to accept that. It is not right.
I've been there as a defender, you have to have your arms [out by your side], you have to be balanced. Your arms have to be extended away from your body, they have to be. It's absolutely impossible.
I actually don't think they're even interpreting the rule right. If you read it, I don't think it's that stringent that they have to apply it in that way. For me, this will change. There have been numerous occasions in the last 10-15 years where little things have come in and they've been thrown away quite quickly, and it will be thrown away, this one."
Richards: Close proximity must be taken into account
Sky Sports' Micah Richards:
"I read the rules 10 times and I still can't come to terms with it because they said they were taking into account close proximity, and the clips we've seen are close proximity. So what are they supposed to do?
"I'm done with it. You get this big brief at the start of the season, these are the rules. So I read the rules to make sure I know what I'm saying when I'm talking about it but I don't know. I'm stuck with it. They give you so many interpretations I don't know which is right and which is wrong.
"[Will attackers start flicking the ball up onto defenders arms intentionally?] I think they will, why would you not? Then we'll be saying it's a mockery of the game. Chip it up and we'll be getting a penalty every game."
Souness: Harsh but it's the rules
Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness took a different view on the incident and said that while Tottenham will feel aggrieved, the referee had followed the rules - and that this new interpretation of what is and isn't handball will provide more goals and more excitement.
"It's the new rules, it's harsh. This is ridiculously harsh. But these are the new rules," said Souness. "You can berate the referee but he's only carrying out the rules that are in place.
"They're trying to make the game simpler for the referees and for all of us to understand. If you were starting with a clean piece of paper and you introduced that and said this is how it's going to be would it make more excitement in the game? We all think it's harsh but if you say any ball that touches an arm that's out of the line of the body we'll give a penalty we'd all accept that I think.
"I think it's harsh but it's going to create more excitement, more goals and as a manager, as a player you have to believe that over a season, all the harsh decisions, it works out. It doesn't over a season, it maybe works out over your career. But maybe going forward we'll think there's more goals being scored, there's more for us to talk about, there's more excitement in the stadiums."
How the managers reacted...
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho: "I don't think [about the decision]. I think about my team's performance, which was really good. The first half, amazing, it should have been 3 or 4-0, easy, but Karl Darlow was fantastic and they survived.
"We kept the control in the second half, we know the danger of the box, we kept them away from it, we know the Tottenham box is a special box so we managed to keep them away always, and then had that situation that we lost two points from.
"If I want to give some money away, I would give it to charity, I don't want to give it to the FA, so I don't want to comment."
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce: "I can understand why Tottenham are going to go berserk and the way Roy Hodgson reaction yesterday - it's a total nonsense. We've got one today and we should be jumping for joy and through hoops but I'd be devastated if it was against us.
"Maybe Roy's right, we have to all get together. We put the referee's under this enormous pressure, the handball rule has been around for years and if it's a deliberate handball then yes, but the decisions are, for me, ruining the spectacle. It was great for us today but one or two of them will go against us.
"I think we have to get together as managers and coaches to go to the Premier League and say 'this must stop'."
Ref Watch: The referee had no choice but to give a penalty
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher:
"What I want to emphasise here is there has been so much aimed at the referees over the weekend, Eric Dier becomes a victim of the law here because he has his back to the ball, his arms are raised, he does not know he is going to do it.
"But Peter Bankes and Kevin Friend at Crystal Palace are equally victims because they have to apply that law and it is stated that if the hand is above the shoulder, the head, it is going to be penalised.
"Well, that was clearly above the shoulder, it was accidental I know, but there is no caveat in there to say accidental handball is no longer punishable. So unfortunately, however you cut it, the referee had no choice but to give a penalty."
Handball controversies in the Premier League this season
The new interpretation of the handball rule has already led to a number of controversial decisions...
Ward punished for Palace
On Saturday, Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson branded the rules "a nonsense" after Everton's Lucas Digne's headed the ball against Joel Ward's wrist and, after a VAR check, a penalty was given.
"I just don't understand how we've allowed it [the handball] to happen. The Premier League, the referee, the coaches, the managers, the players, I don't know how we've allowed this type of situation, which we have at virtually every match at the moment, to occur because the rules of football are important.
"Now we have to take on board rules which are being suggested, but are they the right ones to judge handball? For me, they aren't so I think the whole thing is a nonsense."
Lindelof suffers against Palace
While Palace were victims on Saturday, they had a call go their way at Old Trafford the previous week when a long ball caught the arm of Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof.
"It is never a penalty. Not a chance," said Sky Sports' Gary Neville on commentary. "Lindelof didn't have a clue [where the ball was]." The decision proved key in Palace's 3-1 win.
Man Utd profit at Brighton
Just like Crystal Palace, Manchester United have had the best and worst of these handball calls. While Lindelof was punished against Palace, United benefited when Neal Maupay was penalised when Harry Maguire's header clipped his arm.
The referee actually blew the full-time whistle before consulting VAR and eventually awarding a spot-kick, which Bruno Fernandes converted to win the game in the 100th minute of the match.
Deflection does for Doherty
Tottenham have already had one tough handball call go against them this season, when a pass from Southampton's Moussa Djenepo ricocheted off Harry Winks and hit Matt Doherty's arm. Fortunately for Spurs on that occasion it mattered little to the outcome of their 5-2 win on the South Coast.
Leeds the first of many penalised
Trouble with the rule was evident from the opening weekend when Mohamed Salah's strike deflected up off Leeds defender Robin Koch onto his arm. Referee Michael Oliver was well placed and awarded the penalty kick - a decision Sky Sports commentator Jamie Carragher called "harsh" and Souness said: "I can't see that as a penalty. It's extremely harsh. It comes off his knee then his arm."
