Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp was left incensed following West Ham United’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.
The former Premier League midfielder watched the game from the studio as the Hammers slipped to 17th in the standings, level on points with Bournemouth and with a game in hand.
Tomas Soucek scored an unfortunate own goal and Harry Kane scored late on to condemn them to just two wins from 13 games in all competitions.
For the first goal, the ball looked to hit Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez on the arm before it struck Soucek and ended up in his own net.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Redknapp was in disbelief as to why the goal was allowed to stand.
Should Spurs' goal have been chalked off?
Yes
No
“By the letter of the law, Spurs get away with one”, he said.
“It should have been disallowed. I’m not a big fan of the rule, it’s ball to hand – a complete accident.
“But we’ve seen goals disallowed for it this season, Gabriel Jesus for Manchester City. The ball just glides of Sanchez’s arm. It’s minimal, but the goal shouldn’t have stood. It’s a rubbish rule.”
Redknapp added that he sympathises with Moyes following his post-match anger towards the incident and believes that officials should be able to do their jobs correctly at Stockley Park.
Looking back at the incident, Redknapp has spoken sense about the situation. In fairness to the referee, from the moment that the ball is kicked until it ends up in the back of the net, happens in the space of three seconds. So there is no fault on his behalf as it is difficult to spot.
But the fact that VAR did not pick it up, considering similar goals have been ruled out, is quite astonishing. This, once again, asks questions of the lack of consistency from the off-field officials.
Decisions like this can send teams down. Thankfully, West Ham still have their own fate in their hands.
