Pundit Robbie Earle has revealed what he was told as to why West Ham United’s second goal on Sunday afternoon was allowed to stand.
A lot has been made of West Ham’s win on Sunday as they picked up all three points, but all of their goals were surrounded in controversy, including fouls in the build-up and, more prominently, handballs.
Gianluca Scamacca got his third goal in three games for West Ham across all competitions against Fulham as he lobbed the on-rushing Bernd Leno, although he did appear to control the ball with his arm beforehand.
And according to Earle, who was speaking about the incident on The 2 Robbies podcast, the goal was allowed to stand because VAR couldn’t see an angle which showed the ball striking Scamacca’s arm.
He said: “There was a bit of fortune, as we said, in the Scamacca goal that I think we both feel came off his hand and then he cleverly put it over the goalkeeper.
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“I don’t know how VAR doesn’t see it hitting his hand. We were told, unofficially, the guidance from VAR was that they didn’t see any pictures that were conclusive that it hit his hand – make of that what you will, my friend.”
TIF Thoughts on West Ham’s VAR controversy…
It’s quite surprising that those operating VAR have claimed that there were no pictures which showed the ball hitting his arm, as replays showed the ball’s trajectory change as it gets closer to his arm and then fall very kindly towards his foot, which would suggest it did make contact.
That goal was the one that put West Ham in front against Fulham, which ultimately put them in the driver’s seat on Sunday afternoon and forced the Cottagers to come out more and change their tactical approach.
West Ham can likely count themselves very lucky when it came to VAR and refereeing decisions on Sunday as the majority of them appeared to go their way, although David Moyes will likely just be happy to see his side scoring and picking up points after a tough start to the season.