Arsenal v Leicester City

But 55 is literally 110% of 50.

 

Agreed, context is important

 

It bugs me when some refer to the spuds as spurs!

 

The Okazaki one fair enough, I was wrong about that, but there's no way either of you are going to convince me about the Ndidi one. It was absolutely a handball. Doesn't matter how far away he was, his hands were in an unnatural position by any reasonable person's definition and he blocked a cross using his arms. It's a penalty.

Using the Sanchez incident in the Cup Final as a reference point is a bit moot considering I actually think that also shouldn't have been given and we did get lucky with that call (although we were the miles better team on the day, so you can't begrudge us the cup victory overall).

 

What do you mean by "unnatural position"? Hate that phrase. His arms weren't sticking out of his forehead.

The ball has travelled from knee height to mid torso height at speed. The rules state that a handball should be deliberate. How can he have deliberately handballed from there?

IMO, the rule should be that if it touches your hand then it's handball but going off the current rules of the game there is no way that could be given as a penalty.

 

It might have been smashed into him close range... but he still goes into the block with his hands up and he started moving them up before the ball was smashed into them. There is simply no need to run towards someone raising up your arms like that. The only reason anyone would raise their arms like that is to increase the blocking surface area. So he's chosen to raise his arms to increase the chance of blocking the cross.

Look at first image below = arm in a natural position for a running footballer at chest level.

Second image = arm is not in a natural position for a running footballer. His hand is up by his face. Who runs like that? No-one. He has chosen to start raising his hand and arm at this point before the ball has been smashed at him from close range.

Third image = arguably handball as the arm movement upwards is not natural.

 

It's quite clear that as Ndidi is going towards the ball at 0:04 on that video his arm is starting a natural down swing. As soon as he realises Kolasinac is going to try and cross it, he stops the downswing and swings his arm back up again. He's chosen to do that.

 

If he's predicted that then I'm off round his tonight to ask for the Euromillions numbers.

 

what about the sanchez handball on the line for the goal at Hull?? If that one is also a handball and you've had the rub of the green there at least you are consistent and you are entitled to view the Ndidi handball as a handball and i will not convince you otherwise

 

He was giving his mum a wave.

 

Why did he suddenly move his arm up then when it was in the middle of the downward arc?

 

Ndidi raised his arms to try and protect himself from the ball. But he raised his arms in the penalty area and stopped the ball from going across the 6 yard box with his hands. Could very easily have been given as a pen.

 

Because the ball is about to get whacked towards him. It's a natural thing to do when an object is flying near your face at high speed.

 

Except his hand isn't raised to his face. When the ball strikes his hand, his upper arm is 90 degrees out sideways with his lower arm 90 degrees pointing upwards... not even close to bringing it over to his face.

 

He doesn't get the chance to raise it to his face because the ball is belted at him from 20 inches.

 

So you can watch 0:03 to 0:06 of that video and genuinely conclude that he's raising his hand to protect his face even though at no point does his hand even vaguely move towards his face?

 

You've pretty much summed up my view on the incident and explained why I think it could (and should) have been a penalty

 

Although it was a fortuitous riccochet, it still hit his hand and went into the net. You can't score with your hand. Therefore it shouldn't have been given and, yes, that decision went in our favour.

 

So if you think his hand is in an unnatural position, what do you make of Kolasinac's arm during the whole incident?
When you are moving at speed and suddenly change direction or momentum your arms/body automatically move to counter that.
If you look at the players body he has obviously stopped quickly to block the ball, his body is leaning backwards and his arm has automatically moved forward and up to counter it just like Kolasinac's arm has countered the movement/force of his left leg.