Sunday\u2019s stoppage-time VAR intervention that removed West Ham\u2019s late equaliser at Arsenal produced a rare moment of collective dispute across players, managers and pundits. Mikel Arteta described the on-field incident as a “clear foul” on David Raya and praised the officials for what he called a “brave” decision.<\/p>\n
The West Ham camp voiced frustration at perceived inconsistency. “Where\u2019s the consistency?” Jarrow Bowen asked BBC Sport. Manager Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo admitted he was “upset” by a “lack of consistency.” Keeper Mads Hermansen offered a detailed critique of how tight penalty-area battles are policed. “If you ask any goalkeeper in the league if he\u2019s been illegally blocked, pulled, pushed on corners this season, you will not find anyone who has not experienced this,” Hermansen fumed to The Athletic. “so, to give it today, I\u2019m not sure I understand why. The referee did not explain why when I went to him. We watched it afterwards and we can see there\u2019s short pulls on [Konstantinos] Mavropanos, Sou\u010dek and Pablo before the goal.”<\/p>\n
Arteta defended the officials: “[It\u2019s] a call from the refs that I think is very brave,” he said. “Today I have to praise them, at least for giving the option to a referee to decide. Away from the lights and the chaos, to give clarity to him to make the right call. And when you look at the action in that way, I think it is an obvious error. It is a free kick and the goal has to be disallowed. So congratulations because they made a big call in very, very difficult circumstances.”<\/p>\n
Broadcast reaction was largely aligned on the foul being on Raya. “The one thing you say when you go up, VAR are going to check everything, do not put your hands on the goalkeeper!” Roy Keane told Sky Sports. “Certainly don\u2019t leave it on for three or four seconds. There is all sorts going on but because the goalkeeper had such a big part to play, I think it is a foul.” Wayne Rooney called it “a clear foul” on his self-titled podcast. Gary Lineker added caution about earlier grappling: “If I was a West Ham fan\u2014or, indeed, a Manchester City fan\u2014I think I\u2019d be a little bit angry tonight,” he reasoned. “Because there was a lot of fouling going on at that corner, there was a lot of grappling by Arsenal players on the West Ham attackers … I know it was probably a foul on [Raya] but do you not then look at before, when people are being held, which is probably more an obvious foul?” Micah Richards observed: “It depends what camp you\u2019re in. If you\u2019re in Man City\u2019s camp, you\u2019re saying it\u2019s not a foul and [at] Arsenal, you\u2019re saying it\u2019s a foul. It\u2019s as simple as that.”<\/p>\n
West Ham intend to seek further clarification and the audio between referee Chris Kavanagh and VAR Darren England, according to BBC Sport. The VAR process lasted two minutes, 41 seconds; the touchline monitor review one minute, 15 seconds; total review time four minutes, 11 seconds. The episode has reignited the long-standing debate over consistency and how the laws should be applied in crowded penalty-area situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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