“You’re ruining the game.”
Jamie Carragher was one of a chorus of figures within football who criticised football’s rule makers after Newcastle United were awarded a controversial late penalty away to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.
Steve Bruce’s side, who barely created a chance the entire game, were awarded a penalty well into injury time after Andy Carroll’s header struck Eric Dier’s arm from point blank range.
Though correct by the handball rules currently implemented in the game, many lambasted the admittedly ludicrous nature of deeming such an incident to be a penalty.
🎙 – "Whoever is in involved in this – stop it. You're ruining football." @Carra23 is 𝙣𝙤𝙩 happy with the decision to give this as a penalty – your thoughts? 🤔
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Carragher, who was on co-commentary for the game, called on those making the rules to see sense.
“There’s been other decisions that have been given for penalties, like this. Eric Dier’s jumping for the header; has absolutely no control at all over where his arms are going when he’s jumping,” said Carragher.
“It’s an absolute disgrace. An absolute joke. Newcastle fans will be ecstatic – I understand that – but everybody else in this country will say exactly what I’m saying and what I’m thinking.
“This is a joke. Whether it’s the Premier League, the FA, FIFA, (Pierluigi) Collina – whoever’s involved in this, stop it. Because you’re ruining football for everybody.”
Following the game, Newcastle boss Steve Bruce showed some remarkable solidarity with Mourinho and Spurs. He told Sky Sports:
“I can understand why Spurs will go berserk and Roy Hodgson reacted like he did. It is a total nonsense, we should be jumping through hoops but I would be devastated if that was us. Maybe Roy is right, maybe we all need to get together. The decisions are ruining the spectacle. We have to get together as managers and say this must stop.”
The league has shown that it is open to making changes but, you may recall, the accidental handball rule, in the lead-up to goals being scored, remained in place for all of the 2019/20 season before it was altered for the new campaign.
