West Ham United: Michail Antonio speaks out after what happened in ‘shambles’ v Wolves
Michail Antonio has labelled VAR as a “shambles” after Wolves saw a goal ruled out for offside during their game against West Ham on 6 April.
Speaking on the BBC’s The Footballer’s Football Podcast on Wednesday (10 April), the Jamaican international criticised the decision to rule out Max Kilman’s goal after one of his teammates was alleged to have blocked Lukasz Fabianski’s view, with the Hammers claiming a 2-1 victory.
The 34-year-old forward added that it’s not offside in “any shape or form” as he insisted that VAR has “not helped football” since it was brought in.
“It’s a shambles,” said Antonio. “VAR is an actual shambles. Even though it’s gone for me, we nicked a win because it’s a shambles. Honestly, that’s not offside in any shape or form.
“VAR, I’d prefer if we just went back to normal. It has not helped football. Because they have spent so much money on it, they are scrambling, trying their hardest to keep it.
“Sometimes in life, you meet people and they just don’t fit in your life and you have to let them go. You have to let it go.”
Wolves incident against Wolves has split opinions
This is certainly not a decision that is completely cut and dry as the rules do actually back up the fact that the officials were right to rule the goal out.
While it seems harsh and Fabianski was unlikely to get to the ball anyway, you simply can’t just stand in front of a goalkeeper and block their line of sight if you’re in an offside position.
That has always been offside and will continue to be – whether VAR sticks around or not – as long as the on-field officials spot the incident.
It’s understandable that Wolves are frustrated by the incident because it’s yet another situation that has gone against them after they’ve previously been on the wrong end of several bad calls this season.
It feels as though Antonio is perhaps speaking out against VAR in general after he’s been pretty clear that he’d like to see the technology scrapped.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers have received a boost in their pursuit of a Euro forward.
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