Hackett suggests real reason Kane got away with handball in Tottenham win v Leicester

Hackett suggests real reason Kane got away with handball in Tottenham win v Leicester

Keith Hackett

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). FOCUS Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

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Tottenham were lucky their third goal against Leicester City was not disallowed, according to Keith Hackett.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-FIFA and Premier League referee claimed Anthony Taylor may have been confused as the accidental handball law is set to change next season.

Kane appeared to handle the ball after Çağlar Söyüncü's challenge before setting up Gareth Bale for his 10th Premier League goal of the season.

Speaking on the BBC's Match of the Day programme the decision baffled Ian Wright who suggested referees are "making it up as they go along".

“He is right by saying they’re making it up as they go along,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.

“What I think has happened is, they’ve taken next year’s law with handball and applied it to this season and they’re wrong to do that.

“Next season, if a player accidentally handles the ball and it goes to a colleague then the area of opportunity is reduced and it’s not penalised.

“The law currently as it stands as we’ve seen at the beginning of the season, this is handball without a shadow of a doubt. It’s hit his vulnerable area and that goal should be disallowed.

“I just wonder whether Anthony Taylor, who’s going to the Euros, has been attending conferences in the lead up to the Euros and he’s got slightly confused. The new law with handball, whilst it doesn’t come in until July, may well be applied at the Euros.

“It would have been the right decision next season but this season it’s wrong.”

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