Burnley

FT

1 : 1

vs

HT 1 : 1

Arsenal

We? Back to arsenal from City?

I follow multiple teams, it's in line with my name. The idea of loyalty is silly in football

This was worse than the kante one against Liverpool because the defender had his arm in an unnatural position. You don't stick your arm out that far unless you are committing a foul/obstruction

Unless the law is changed where every handball = a foul, there will always be inconsistency. Otherwise it is open to interpretation and how the person in the var room and the referee see it. I didn't see the incident but I'll also say that when in slow motion or a still, every incident looks worse.

Agree with the milan guy.. lindelof conceded a penalty in United's first PL game against crystal palace and then the law changed during the season to correct it and now it looks like VAR and ref guess the player's intention and then decide... Always open to debate, handball = foul would simply but take the fun out of this sport

https://streamable.com/0nh51n here's the link for you.

The one argument I can see the referee making for no pen is that peter's arm was already in that position prior to the ball hitting it. He didn't move his arm up or towards the ball. it was already in that position.

There's no argument because the arm doesn't go up that high unless you are trying to commit a foul

'VAR official Kevin Friend saw no reason to bring the incident to Marriner's attention.' - proximity as well as intent were taken into account by Kevin friend. He felt A. it was too close and that there was no intent. Given that Pieters already had his arm in that position prior to the ball hitting it, I have to agree with var. Whole other situation if the arm went up as the ball was hit. I can completely understand if it was given though.

so you just put your arms like a goalkeeper and it never gets called because you're too close to the attacker? "the proximity" is absolutely not relevant.

It obviously was because that was Kevin friend's explanation - the var referee.

So when the decision goes against arsenal you favour the referees opinion but when the refs go against other teams you oppose the decision of the refs. You sound like an arsenal hater

No, I said that's what Kevin friend said! I also said that the arm was in that position already and I could see why they didn't give it!

Your point is ironic compared to your other comments about referees. Everyone can see how refs try to justify almost every decision they make. Through this they fool people into thinking they are doing their job and you have fallen victim to it this time. I thought you were someone who had awareness of the corruption. They'll find any excuse to favour their decisions, it doesn't make their choices acceptable when theyre wrong

The way I see is this. I don't buy the proximity argument but I do the position of the arm and intent. Everyone balances differently - if you've played the game, everyone moves differently and hence the position pieters has found his arm at. The fact that it was up in that position prior to the ball hitting it, FOR ME, I can understand why they've not given it. But I've also seen some terrible penalties given much worse than this. As I said in my first comment, it is better they make every handball a foul! That way there is consistency. I would also like to add that Burnley themselves had a very good shout for a penalty in the first half and you guys never mentioned that. Two wrongs don't make a right though.

"The fact that it was up in that position prior to the ball hitting i" Now imagine that every defender puts his arms like this, basically being another goalkeeper.

It depends if the arm was there already before the ball is struck from less than 1m away. Given Pieters' position, the argument could be that the arm was indicating to his teammates that he was going to try and take Pepe down the outside and wanted the inside to be covered by a teammate. A whole other argument if the arm was by his side and then he lifted it. I always say that two wrongs don't make a right, but when I rewatched the highlights, there was a penalty for Burnley waved away in the first half as well. Ultimately, Arsenal paid for unfortunately not taking their chances and some heroic defending by burnley.