The decision by VAR to disallow a late West Ham United equalizer against Arsenal was branded “completely wrong” and “pathetic” by former Manchester United keeper Peter Schmeichel after another weekend full of controversy.
In a huge Premier League match between the Gunners and West Ham, Callum Wilson appeared to have salvaged a draw for the hosts, only for the goal to be ultimately chalked off after a lengthy review and consultation between on-field referee Chris Kavanagh and the pitchside VAR screen resulted in a foul being given against Arsenal stopper David Raya.
Schmeichel was one of the loudest critics of the decision to award the free kick, arguing that it completely undermined how Mikel Arteta’s side score goals:
“What really gets me going is I don’t think that Arsenal would ever be top of the league if that is a free kick,” said Schmeichel on Swedish broadcasters Viaplay. “They do it all the time with pushing, holding and all the stuff they do at set-pieces to block players; that is how they have scored all the goals this season!”.
The former United keeper also felt that the lengthy process of reviewing the goal served only to confuse and cast further doubt on whether it should have been disallowed:
“The longer they wait and then the VAR decision has to be there and starts it over and over again that creates so much doubt that it absolutely cannot be a free kick”.
However, not all former top-flight professionals agree. Alan Shearer believes it was a foul, but echoed Schmeichel’s point about inconsistency throughout the season: “That’s what we’re seeing week in, week out,” stated the ex-Newcastle man on the ‘The Rest is Football’ podcast. “I do think it was a foul, but where was VAR at for other incidents like this earlier in the season?”.
Ex-England skipper Wayne Rooney was wholeheartedly in support of the referee’s verdict: “It’s a clear foul, you can see Raya’s face being blocked by the arm impacting his ability to get to the ball; I actually thought VAR did a great job”.
