Newcastle boss Eddie Howe doesn’t understand the handball rule

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·4 January 2025

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe doesn’t understand the handball rule

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has basically admitted he can’t wrap his head around the handball rule.

Or, at least, the specific part of the rule that benefitted his team on Saturday as they won 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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The Magpies, you see, scored a somewhat fortuitous equaliser. In his attempt to play the ball out, Lucas Bergvall hit the ball off Joelinton’s arm.

The Brazilian proceeded to pass it off to Bruno Guimaraes, who laid up Anthony Gordon to score their first goal of the afternoon. Spurs would argue the goal should have been ruled out, but under the rules as they are currently written it wasn’t enough to disallow it and the VAR agreed with referee Andy Madley’s original decision.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe doesn’t understand handball rule

“For me the rules are slightly unclear,” Howe told BBC Match of the Day afterwards. “I don’t know where the cut off point is.

“Of course it hit his hand – I cannot deny that. But from that point onwards I thought it was a really good goal.”

The thing is, it’s not actually that hard at all to understand. The Premier League made an amendment to the handball rule in 2021 that meant a goal would be ruled out if the ball accidentally touched the scorer’s arm before it went in.

However, if an attacking player accidentally handles the ball immediately before another player scores, the goal will be awarded. If it’s deliberate, it won’t be.

You can argue the rule isn’t good or should be changed, but it’s a relatively simple one to understand. It’s possible Howe is either acting dumb or he’s never read the actual ruling in black and white. In any case it was a perfectly legitimate goal.

Howe: Newcastle deserved win over Spurs

Asked if his side deserved to win the game, Howe replied: “Based on our first half performance. I thought we were really good. The most pleasing thing is to come back from conceding an early goal away from home. We made it hard for ourselves but played really well in the end.

“On another day maybe we could have led by two at the break and then second half we had to defend really well. I’m really pleased to get over the line and win the game.

“Some of our attacking play in the first half was really strong. It was a different game in the second half. It was very stop-start in the second half, a lot of injuries. But overall I thought we defended well.”

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