Tottenham boss Thomas Frank calls for change to handball law

The Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank has said the handball law should be changed to ensure players are not penalised when the ball simply hits them on the arm.

Under International Football Association Board rules, a handball offence occurs when a player deliberately touches the ball with the hand or arm, or when the ball makes contact with either of those areas after a player has made their body “unnaturally bigger”.

A disparity between theory and practice in dealing with handball offences remains a perennial problem, however, with the early weeks of the Premier League season no exception, and Frank believes change is overdue.

“I would take out the handball rule, as for me it’s not right,” said the Dane. “If there’s a handball and it touches your arm in the penalty area, you are giving the biggest chance to the opponent just because it touches your arm.”

‘It’s a rule that has to be changed to improve the game’

Everton’s trip to Elland Road on the opening weekend of the season offered a telling illustration of Frank’s point, with James Tarkowski conceding a late penalty after a shot from the Leeds midfielder Anton Stach struck his arm, which was tucked against his side.

David Moyes’s side were on the receiving end of another harsh penalty decision at home to Brighton the following weekend, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sanctioned after a Yankuba Minteh effort struck his hand from point-blank range.

Both decisions were upheld by the VAR, and while Frank acknowledges the necessity of the handball rule, he told BetMGM that change was necessary in order to avoid further controversy.

“Of course, if you’re standing on the goal-line and you try to save it like a goalkeeper in the old days, that’s different,” said the Dane.

“But I simply don’t understand how, if it just touches a player’s arm, and it touches their arm in certain areas, it gives the opportunity for the biggest chance in the game. 

“It’s a rule that has to be changed to improve the game and make it fairer.”

Thomas Frank calls for time-outs

The uneven application of the handball law was further highlighted at Anfield on the opening night of the Premier League season, when the Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi avoided sanction despite appearing to brush the ball away from Hugo Ekitike with an outstretched hand, denying the Liverpool striker a clear run on goal.

Frank is in favour of the introduction of time-outs, which would allow coaches to address players and outline tactical switches. 

“I’d have a time-out in each half,” said Frank. “From a coaching perspective, I think it would be lovely to have an opportunity during the game to speak to the players and be able to adjust something.”

Tottenham travel to West Ham for the tea-time kick-off on Saturday.