Tottenham expert baffled as Richarlison footage emerges – ‘what is going to happen?’
Alan Hutton is concerned about the “grey area” in the handball rule after Tottenham were denied a penalty against West Ham on Sunday (19 February).
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Spurs defender feels like there is always a “50/50” chance whether a handball will be given.
As shown on Sky Sports (20 February), the Hammers’ Thilo Kehrer appeared to handle the ball inside the box as he fell to the ground from Richarlison’s tackle.
Referee Michael Oliver did not feel that the incident warranted a penalty and the VAR official didn’t think the onfield official had made a clear and obvious error that needed to be overturned.
Spurs went on to win the game 2-0 keeping David Moyes’ side stuck in the relegation zone.
Hutton insisted teams will always face these problems because the handball rule is so ambiguous.
“If you are falling down and your hand needs to go somewhere where it is not seen as a handball,” he told Football Insider.
“Richarlison is turning in the box, it looks like he is making a move to tackle, it comes clearly off his hand.
“My first reaction was that it was a penalty. I thought it had to be because he stopped the ball.
“We seem to be talking about this sort of thing all the time and it is such a grey area. We genuinely do not know what is going to happen.
“There could be one game where it is a penalty and then in the next game it is not. So it is so hard to sit here and try and talk through it because you genuinely do not know what way it is going to go. It is like 50/50.“
In other news, Agbonlahor can’t believe Richarlison could quit Tottenham for Euro giants in cut-price deal.