Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand has given his view on Arsenal’s controversial penalty claim against Burnley at the weekend, branding the decision to not give a spot kick a disgrace.
The Gunners actually had two penalty shouts for handball, both involving Erik Pieters, and while Ferdinand didn’t specify which decision he was alluding to, it’s clear to see that he thought the officials got something wrong.
“I agree with you Joel, I agree you should have had a penalty, you should definitely have had a penalty. The decision was a disgrace, VAR is becoming a laughing stock. Scott Parker hit the nail on the head,” Ferdinand said.
“It’s taken the purity out of the game, you can’t celebrate goals anymore because you’re worried about it being overturned by a decision that was three minutes before,”
To be fair, it’d be hard to find any Arsenal fan who disagrees with Ferdinand.
Pieters’ first handball appeared to be deliberate and his arm was definitely in an unnatural position.
The second decision was more debateable, the ball struck his shoulder, so a handball can’t really be given there, but this time last year, it would have been a penalty and a red card.
VAR is consistently rubbing people up the wrong way with decisions like this, and it’s hard to see where the solution lies as calls on things such as handball are still largely open to interpretation.
Arsenal fans certainly have a right to feel irked after the Burnley game.
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