Tony Cottee fumes over controversial incident in West Ham United loss v Freiburg
Tony Cottee is furious over how long it took to decide whether to award West Ham a penalty following a VAR check against Freiburg on Thursday (7 March).
The pundit tweeted on Thursday that regardless of whether or not it was a penalty, the officials need to “sort it out” as it took four minutes before the referee decided it wasn’t a spot-kick for a handball in the final moments of the match.
He added that it was a “frustrating game” for the Hammers, but he believes they have enough to turn it around in the second leg after suffering a 1-0 defeat in their Europa League clash against the Bundesliga side.
Poor officiating in West Ham against Freiburg
It was an absolutely shocking decision to not award West Ham a penalty after the Freiburg player clearly handled the ball above his head.
While it was in close proximity, his arms were away from his body and it prevented the ball from potentially going towards goal.
It looked a certainty that the referee would award the spot-kick after spending several minutes looking at the monitor, but he eventually decided there wasn’t enough in the incident.
It was an overall poor performance from the official as he made several strange decisions and lacked consistency throughout the game.
Although the display from our players wasn’t good enough, it’s about time we got an explanation of exactly what the handball rule is because no one seems to know anymore.
In other West Ham news, sources have claimed a Premier League manager is now in the frame to replace Moyes.
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