Richard Keys shares verdict on ‘mess’ that saw Marcus Rashford goal disallowed v Everton
Richard Keys has described the incident that saw Marcus Rashford’s goal disallowed against Everton as a “mess” in his weekly blog post.
The Toffees were beaten 2-1 at Goodison Park after Antony and Cristiano Ronaldo cancelled out Alex Iwobi’s early opener, but Rashford had a late third ruled out for handball.
An incident earlier in the day that was almost identical saw Michail Antonio’s goal given despite a VAR check, and Keys says [10 October] either both should’ve stood or both disallowed rather than what actually happened.
“What about the mess the match centre made of the goals that Antonio and Rashford scored?” he said.
“They were identical – but VAR allowed Antonio’s v Fulham – and later ruled out Rashford’s at Everton. Antonio has admitted that of course he’d handled the ball. The match centre told us they’d seen it but that the offence hadn’t led ‘directly to a goal’. What? It did. He scored.
“The difference between that goal and Rashford’s at Everton was what? Either both should’ve stood – or both should’ve been disallowed.”
Poor
What part of the rules aren’t clear for Keys? There was a new phase of play in the West Ham situation that didn’t occur in the Everton game.
Nobody is disputing that Rashford’s handball was accidental, because it quite obviously was, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t break a rule.
Nobody else touched the ball between Rashford’s contact with his arm and the ball finding the back of the net, while for West Ham Antonio’s initial shot was saved and there were touches from the defender which initiated a new phase.
It’s admittedly a stupid rule and Rashford’s goal should’ve stood morally, but the laws aren’t made by Everton and that’s something that the rest of the game need to take up with officials.
Ultimately the right call was made, but people don’t like the rule. That’s a different argument entirely and Keys is making a fool of himself once again. No shock there.