Ex-Premier League referee Mark Halsey has had his say on Callum Hudson-Odoi’s controversial handball incident in Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Manchester United over the weekend.
The 20-year-old winger was the subject of a lengthy VAR check in Sunday’s stalemate after he appeared to handle the ball inside the area as he tussled for possession with Mason Greenwood.
On-field referee Stuart Attwell chose to stick with his original decision and not to give a penalty after being advised to look at the incident by Chris Kavanagh, who was on VAR duty.
Speaking exclusively to This is Futbol, Halsey was questioned on Attwell’s call and asked whether he thought it should have been a penalty or not.
In response, this is what he had to say on the matter.
He said: “In real time, I didn’t think was a penalty. I thought, at first, it was handled by Mason Greenwood, and Stuart was in a fantastic position. And I have to ask the question, ‘Was that a clear and obvious error by Stuart Attwell?’ Okay. Now bearing in mind VAR were looking at it, they were checking it, and they were looking at it quite a number of times, quite a number of times, so you have to ask yourself, ‘Is that a clear and obvious error?’, ‘Was Chris Kavanagh re-referee the game in that situation?’
“Okay, yes, when we look back at it, and you say, ‘Did the Chelsea player have his arms in an unnatural position?’ You could say yes. When you see it and that amount of times on the replay, ‘Did he deliberately move his arm towards the ball?’ You can say, ‘Yes, he did’, but the players were in such close proximity.
“But when Chris Kavanagh recommended the review to Stuart Attwell, I thought that Stewart was going to give a penalty because I think it met the criteria of law 12, a deliberate act of handball.”
In our view, as Halsey states, this probably should have been a penalty due to Hudson-Odoi breaking law 12 of the game. The Chelsea man’s hand was in an unnatural position, and the Red Devils were unfortunate not to be awarded a spot-kick on this occasion.