Former referee explains Tottenham’s Guglielmo Vicario incident against Brentford

Former long time official has explained controversial decision

During the second half of Spurs’ victory over Brentford on Saturday, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario appeared to handle the ball outside of his penalty area, causing outrage in the away end and on social media from Brentford fans, who are upset that the Spurs number one was not punished and have asked why VAR did not intervene after the referee did not notice it in real time.

Mark Halsey, a fourteen-year Premier League referee, noted that VAR could only have decided to interfere if the incident was deemed a clear and apparent error that resulted in a red card, which it was not in this case.

However, the former referee suggested that this was a “loophole that had to be closed” and urged current officials to exercise their discretion in determining whether occurrences like this one constitute a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity.

Former referee explains Tottenham’s Guglielmo Vicario incident against Brentford

Halsey stated, “The incident in which keeper Guglielmo Vicario handled outside his penalty area was handled incorrectly by the match officials.” But I don’t think the Tottenham player, who was not punished, should have been sent off. In this case, you must decide if it satisfies the criteria for denying a goal or an evident goal-scoring opportunity.

Referees must examine the distance between the offence and the goal, the overall direction of play, the chance of an opponent retaining or obtaining control of the ball, and the location and number of defenders. This did not fulfill the criteria.

It was handball, thus there should have been a free kick and a caution. VAR did not intervene since there was no clear and evident error involving a red card offence. However, it is concerning that referee John Brooks failed to identify the offence.”

This looks like a reasonable answer from an experienced officer. In any case, Vicario was fortunate to avoid a caution and a free kick in a very dangerous area for the visitors, with the score still 2-1 and in the balance.

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