Dermot Gallagher: Antonio did not foul Pickford
Former Premier League official Dermot Gallagher has claimed that Stuart Attwell rightly awarded West Ham a corner in their win over Everton on Sunday.
Michail Antonio and Jordan Pickford both went to contest for the ball in the air, and the Jamaica international seemed to have touched the England goalkeeper, but the referee did not blow his whistle.
Attwell instead pointed to the corner flag which resulted in Angelo Ogbonna scoring the winner from the ball played in by Aaron Cresswell.
Speaking on Sky Sports on his Ref Watch segment, Gallagher said: “I don’t think it’s a foul. I think Antonio is perfectly entitled to jump. I don’t think he impedes the goalkeeper.
“He goes to jump for the ball and I also think, if you look at it, the ball comes off the gloves of the goalkeeper. I think it is also a corner, but I don’t think it is a foul.
“It’s not in the laws of the game [that the six-yard area is sacred]. You can’t just start to say nobody can go and challenge the goalkeeper over the six-yard line. Every ball is there to be challenged for if the challenge is fair.”
Fair enough
We’ve seen goalkeepers protected time and again so it’s good to see one decision going against them.
Usually, even after the slightest of contact, they throw themselves to the floor and ask for the referee to give a decision in their favour.
Pickford should have been more commanding this time around and blaming Antonio is only him getting the blame off his shoulders.
He had a greater leap on the West Ham man and also has the advantage of his hands.
With a greater reach, there are no excuses why he could not collect the ball cleanly and credit Antonio for rightly winning his side a corner.
Pickford must learn from this mistake and improve as he’s a very good keeper, but still has a few flaws to his game.
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