‘PGMOL must make firm goalkeeping ruling’ after Aston Villa incident – Hackett
Keith Hackett believes that the PGMOL needs to make a firm ruling regarding fouls on goalkeepers moving forward in the Premier League after an incident during the Brighton and Aston Villa game.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former PGMOL chief, ex-FIFA, and Premier League referee believes that a meeting needs to be held to determine what is “acceptable or not acceptable.”
This comes in the wake of complaints recently from managers and fans about what is appropriate with a lack of consistency being seen on what leads to a foul.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler publicly called out the PGMOL to make a specific ruling after his sides 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Monday (30 December.)
The Seagulls boss believed that Bart Verbruggen was fouled on a corner immediately before Villa earned a penalty, with issues surrounding this topic having been problematic throughout the entire season.
PGMOL must hold a meeting after Brighton call out
Hackett told Football Insider, “They don’t have to change the rules.
“They basically have to sit the referees around a table and say these are either acceptable or not acceptable.
“If they’re not acceptable they’ve got to communicate that.
“I got a feeling, an impression from one of the managers post-match that made a comment, it might have been in the Fulham game, where he was implying that they’d been told very clearly that these types of incidents would be pulled this year.
“They’re not, we’re seeing a lot of them, aren’t we?
“We’re seeing a lot of the blocking, holding, and pulling, now focusing on the goalkeeper, and the PGMOL have got to sort it out.
“They’ve either got to say look, ‘Generally this is allowable, the players allowed to challenge the goalkeeper physically.’
“Or they’ve got to say, ‘We’re going to outlaw it and penalize every single one.’
“There’s an inconsistency on it, that’s the problem.”
In other news, ‘Joao Pedro committed a violent act’ & should get extended Brighton ban – Hackett.
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