‘Wow’ – Howard Webb reacts amid Michael Owen surprise over West Ham controversy
Howarb Webb has responded to the controversy surrounding West Ham being held to a draw late against Brighton.
West Ham drew 1-1 at the Amex on 7 December after a stoppage-time goal from Georginio Rutter survived a VAR review on two counts.
The result prevented the Hammers from climbing out of the relegation zone thanks to Jarrod Bowen‘s opener, and was compounded when West Ham lost 3-2 to Aston Villa at the weekend despite going ahead twice.
The Seagulls’ equaliser was controversial thanks to Charalampos Koustoulas’ overhead kick in the build up narrowly missing Konstantinos Mavroponos‘ head, before Rutter appeared to make contact with his hand, but both issues were dismissed by referee Simon Hooper and confirmed by VAR.
Owen surprised by Kostoulas high boot
On Match Officials Mic’d Up this week the audio communications between Hooper, VAR Tony Harrington and Assistant VAR Ian Hussin were played.
Hooper could be heard ruling out a foul by Kostoulas in play, before communicating with West Ham captain Bowen that he believed the handball was accidental as the review was conducted.
Webb admitted the situation was “unusual” but he and Michael Owen both agreed with the laws as they stand saying that the ball hit Rutter’s leg then his arm while it was in a natural position, before his initial shot was saved and he scored on receiving a pass back from Jan Paul van Hecke so it was fine, but the former England striker saw more controversy in the high boot.
Webb said: “This is quite an unusual situation this one because the player who eventually scores a goal, in this case Georginio Rutter, actually made contact with the ball with his hand in the attacking phase before the goal. But what’s really important here is that he didn’t immediately score after that contact…
“The fact that he’s shot, it’s been saved, it’s gone to a teammate who passes it back to him has taken away the fact that it’s an immediate goal. It’s not an immediate goal… as long as the officials consider this to be an accidental handball, not a deliberate handball, and they do in this situation.”
Owen’s view was: “Rutter’s arms do come up, but I think from experience once you try to thigh a ball and control it your arms naturally come up, but the ball would have gone past him, probably into the goalkeeper’s arms, if it hadn’t have hit his arm, but that doesn’t matter?”
Webb replied: “No. Maybe. But I think everything about what he does is pretty natural… it goes onto his [leg] first and then the arm never really moves… I think I’m in agreement there with the officials, that this is not a handball offence that you’d normally penalise. For example, if that was a defender in the penalty area you wouldn’t give a penalty against him.”
Going back to the high-boot, former Liverpool star Owen said: “While we’re on this clip let’s just have a look at something that happened in the build up that I thought ‘Wow’. This was interesting. People have mentioned it so let’s just have a look. A high boot, could that be deemed as an indirect free kick?”
Webb replied: “Yeah, maybe. I think what we see is Kostoulas making really good contact on the ball with that athletic overhead kick. There’s hardly any contact with the opponent, Mavropanos in this case. The referee saw that in real time… the VAR looked at it as well and deemed it to be exactly that – a good playing of the ball without really much contact [on Mavropanos] and I think if that’d gone top corner most people would have wanted that goal to stand. If you’d have scored it I’m sure you would.”
Owen then added: “Absolutely, but I tell you what would have happened, Howard. If Mavropanos had held his head and gone down I’m pretty sure that a referee would have no option but to blow up for a free kick there, because the foot is high. It’s not like he’s stooping into it.”
- It is an offence if a player scores in the opponents’ goal:
- – Directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper
- – Immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental
And Webb admitted “Yeah it is high. I think if he’d have felt full contact, or some significant contact, that probably would have been the outcome. That’s not what happened and therefore the referees deal with what they see. And they saw full contact on the ball and deemed it to be a good athletic action by the attacker in this situation.”
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Luck evades West Ham in complicated VAR incident
By the letter of the law the right decision on the handball was reached, but the VAR audio illustrates why their calls so often infuriate supporters.
It is not necessarily the officials’ fault since they are obliged to work to the letter of the law, and breaking such a chaotic sequence down to individual phases can go against the impression an incident gives when watching it live, especially when everything happens in the space of a few seconds.
Equally, the high boot is the sort of thing fans generally want to see let go since they want to see top-level professionals attempt spectacular play, unless it goes against their side, as with the Irons on the south coast.
What is slightly concerning is that Owen has highlighted, and Webb has virtually admitted, Mavropanos could have potentially secured a vital win if he had pretended he was hurt even when he wasn’t.
If players and coaches have watched that there will likely be at least a few who have taken that in and will manage to use it to their advantage at some crucial juncture, which will be far more infuriating overall than the process West Ham were on the wrong end of against Brighton.
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