Senior football journalist.
A penalty described as ‘bizarre’ saw Leeds to a 1-0 win against Everton in their Premier League opener – and whether it should have stood or not has divided opinion.
Toffees captain James Tarkowski was penalised for handball, although it came amid contentious circumstances.
The penalty was scored by new Leeds signing Lukas Nmecha in the 84th minute, and Tarkowski himself was confused as to how the penalty was allowed to stand.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s not a penalty. As soon as the ref blew, I was pretty confident it was going to get overturned.
“My first question to him was ‘If my arm was by my side – which it was – is it a penalty?’ To which he said no.
“I’ve since read that I leaned into the ball, but there’s nothing unnatural about my arm being by my side. The ball’s allowed to hit your arm, it’s just not allowed to be away from your body unnaturally, which it wasn’t. I can’t understand it, really.
“The linesman gave it apparently, who was 45 yards away and I don’t understand how he can see what I’ve done with my arm from the angle. Bizarre – and it cost us a point in the end.
“I’m moving across, there’s a lot of bodies in front of me. The lad’s struck it at pace, it’s taken a deflection on the way past, I see it at the last second – I’m allowed to move my body towards the direction of the ball.”
How the penalty incident unfolded
The game looked to be heading for a goalless draw when Anton Stach’s shot hit Tarkowski who was down low inside the area. It looked as if his arms were by his side, but referee Chris Kavanagh immediately pointed to the spot.
There was then a brief wait as the decision to award a penalty was confirmed by VAR.
“He’s trying to get the arm behind his back so in many ways, it seems harsh to me, but maybe it’s the way he’s leaning into the ball,” Andy Hinchcliffe said on Sky Sports co-commentary.
And in the contentious cauldron of Elland Road, summer signing Nmecha stepped up to take and with just his third touch in a Leeds shirt, fired his new team to victory.
Everton boss David Moyes had questioned some of the refereeing decisions on the opening weekend when asked on Monday Night Football before the game, and was critical of the penalty award at Elland Road.
“The goal was completely wrong, really harsh. It’s difficult to lose on that,” Moyes told Sky Sports after the game.
“I’ve been in and spoken to the referee. They seem to think because you lean, your arms can go away. You’re allowed to lean in football, unless someone’s going to pull one of these rules out that if you lean, it’s a penalty.
“The ball took a deflection, I don’t know where Tarky would have had to get his arm chopped of to. It wasn’t outside his body, it wasn’t doing anything different.
“It’s not been a good week for me, I’ve only seen some of the referees and some of the performances but tonight, it was a poor decision. But it might not have been the referee, VAR had a chance to get that decision right and I felt like it wasn’t fair.”