West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek said the Premier League has become “like basketball” after his side lost a crucial game against Nottingham Forest following what he described as a “joke” decision to award their opponents a late penalty.
The video assistant referee (VAR) intervened after Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola collided with Morgan Gibbs-White while attempting to get to a cross.
Soucek, who headed the free-kick clear before it could reach Areola or Gibbs-White, drew comparisons to basketball – a sport in which minimal contact is permitted.
Gibbs-White’s resulting 89th-minute spot-kick condemned West Ham to a 2-1 defeat which left Nuno Espirito Santo’s side seven points adrift of safety.
“For me it is a joke. I just saw it again and I think we can have 20 penalties per game if it is like that,” Soucek told Sky Sports.
“I came to the Premier League because I thought it was the toughest league in the world, and we are all fighters and warriors.
“But this looks more like basketball when you can’t touch the player.
“[Areola] is the same in the dressing room. He didn’t know who was fouled. He came for the ball, I think I cleared it and it was already out. We didn’t know why there was VAR and then the penalty, so it was tough for all of us.”
Having not initially awarded a penalty, on-field referee Tony Harrington announced to the crowd at the London Stadium: “After review, the goalkeeper fouls Nottingham Forest number 10. My final decision is penalty kick.”
West Ham manager Nuno, whose side earlier had a goal disallowed by VAR for offside when leading 1-0, said: “I was a goalkeeper and you cannot stop your movement. You go for the ball – it has a trajectory and a line.
“How many times you see this happen and nothing is given? Not in my days and not today, it should not be given.
“That is how I see it. We have the referee, the VAR and we have to accept. For me it is not a penalty.”
West Ham are now winless in their past 10 league games.
But Nuno added his side must “keep believing” as they seek to retain their Premier League status over their remaining 17 games.
There is a simple line of thought when it comes to assessing goalkeeper challenges.
If they get something on the ball there will be a bit more leniency. So a touch followed by incidental contact on the head of an attacker is unlikely to be a penalty.
But if you get nowhere near playing it and plant your glove into a player’s face, you are in trouble.
Goalkeepers have had less leeway generally since the start of the 2023-24 season when the VAR missed an obvious penalty for Wolves at Manchester United.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana had crashed into Sasa Kalajdzic without getting a touch on the ball but there was no review. The VAR team was stood down from their next appointments.
Later that season when Onana made a similar challenge against Burnley, the VAR stepped in to give the penalty.
