Glenn Hoddle has admitted that he had ‘no complaints’ about Cristian Romero being punished for handball during Arsenal and Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at the Emirates on Sunday.
In a game of chaos, entertainment and mistakes, the second half of the north London derby blew up with Cristian Romero giving away a penalty when VAR and the on-field referee agreed that his arm was outstretched following a shot at Tottenham’s goal.
The penalty was awarded upon referee Robert Jones looking at his side screen monitor, with Bukayo Saka tucking away the spot-kick – James Maddison and Son Heung-min would equalise a minute later when they pounced on Jorginho’s mistake, Sol Campbell praised the duo’s performance.
Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle stated that ‘back in the day that was never a penalty’, but he made it clear that times have moved on now and defenders have to ‘go with your arms behind your back’, as he told Premier League Productions (24/09/23 at 4:15 pm).
Some would argue that because Cristian Romero was falling to the floor in a genuine attempt to stop the shot, his arms naturally are going to come out as he is hitting the ground.
But Glenn Hoddle, even though he had his Tottenham hat on, felt otherwise.
“No (complaints),” said Hoddle.”I think the rules with the way they are, I mean back in the day, it would never be a penalty.
“But the rules as they are. It’s pretty plain now. Defenders have got to go, if there is any chance of closing a shot down, you have to go with your arms behind your back. It’s pretty simple.
“It’s not a natural movement that you need or want your defender to do. But there are too many of these happening.”
Entertaining north London derby
History tells you that this fixture, for the neutral and on paper, delivers and always entertains the fans.
Arsenal and Tottenham supporters might not see it that way because for 100-odd minutes today, they would have been a nervous wreck.
The two teams, from their own perspective, didn’t get control of the game like they would have wanted, and in the end, just started trading blows like two boxers willing to get knocked out.
There were mistakes on both sides as the draw was the fair result on the reflection of the game.
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