Sam Matterface calls on change to be made live on talkSPORT after Everton loss vs Manchester City
Sam Matterface has urged the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to change the rules after the handball decision that went against Everton in their loss to Manchester City.
City were awarded a second-half penalty with the score level at 1-1 in Wednesday’s (28 December) Premier League contest when Nathan Ake’s shot hit Amadou Onana’s arm.
After plenty of deliberation, referee John Brooks pointed to the spot and Julian Alvarez converted to put City on their way to a 3-1 victory at Goodison Park.
However, many have criticised the decision to award the spot-kick, including talkSPORT co-hosts Matterface and Alex Crook.
“I would urge the IFAB to change the rules again – go back to the idea of it being just a deliberate handball,” Matterface said on talkSPORT [28 December, 10:16am]. “Give the responsibility back to the referee.”
Co-host Alex Crook added: “It sounds so simple, adding a word into the lawbook. John Brooks didn’t think it was a penalty as he looked at his assistant.
“The [Man City] players have to take responsibility as well because they surrounded Brooks. If it happened at the other end, they would have been aggrieved had it been awarded.”
How?
This is the latest handball incident that has marred a game this season. Given the proximity of the ball to the player, how on earth could it be given?
We have now come to expect these to be awarded as handballs, but the rule was fine the way it was in the past.
The ball hitting a player on the arm does not necessarily have to be a penalty every single time.
As Sean Dyche alluded to after the match, if it’s not offsides we are talking about, it is dodgy handball decisions.
In fairness to the referees, they are not helped at all.
What made this decision even harder to take is that it came with the game level.
It could be argued City were always likely to go on and win the game after levelling, but football does not work like that.
The hope is that these decisions balance themselves out over the course of a season, so let us hope for a bit of luck against Wolves on Saturday (30 December).
In other Everton news, two players have been ruled out by Dyche for the trip to Wolves.