Maxwel Cornet thought he had scored an equaliser for West Ham United against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but VAR disallowed his goal because of a foul in the build-up.
Maxwel Cornet, who has betting odds of 3.80 of scoring a goal anytime in the next fixture that West Ham has – according to www.sportwetten-vergleich.at, thought he had scored his first goal for the Hammers in the second half of their game against Chelsea. It was the first time since joining in the summer from Burnley when he shot the ball into the roof of the net.
Michail Antonio had given West Ham the advantage, but Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz turned the tide in favour of the Blues. Cornet’s goal would have tied the match at 2-2. Still, video assistant referee Jarred Gillett called referee Andrew Madley to the monitor to investigate a potential foul by Jarrod Bowen on goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in the build-up.
The goal was disallowed and the decision sparked a firestorm of controversy. While Match of the Day analyst and former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer provided a harsh assessment of VAR, calling it “disgraceful,” Hammers manager David Moyes called the judgment “ridiculously bad”.
The weekend wasn’t a good one for VAR, with a disallowed goal decision in Crystal Palace’s home draw against Newcastle United also attracting criticism. The PGMOL accepted that the controversial decisions in both games were wrong.
Dermot Gallagher, a former Premier League referee, provides a weekly analysis of the most significant calls made during the most recent round of games on Sky Sports News’ Ref Watch. An extensive discussion took place about West Ham’s goal that was not allowed. Gallagher believes that referee Andrew Madley had the best view of the incident, and he should have taken the right decision in the first place.
When a referee is summoned to the VAR monitor in the Premier League, it usually means that the initial ruling will be reversed. Stephen Warnock, a former Liverpool defender, questioned Gallagher about why on-field officials were reluctant to defy the VAR official and stay with their call.
Gallagher said, “I believe if I had to pin the referee’s position on the field, that’s precisely where I would like to be. He has a great vantage point for observing the action and should have made the right decision.”
Final Thoughts
The fog of controversy is unlikely to lift quickly over the VAR issue, and that’s unsurprising. The incident in the Chelsea/West Ham game was especially egregious. Former Premier League referee Gallagher was left unimpressed.
