There were two potential problems with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s game winning goal at the death on Sunday. First, it may have been offsides, but it seems that that judgment has, understandably, taken a back seat to the thought that the goal should have been disallowed because it went off Kos’ forearm.
As you can imagine, the goal has been discussed, analyzed, sliced, diced, and argued about almost nonstop since yesterday. But today, an Actual Premier League Referee (retired) chimed in on the discussion.
Not that the opinion of a retired referee is a QED on the whole situation, but in the opinion of Dermot Gallagher, who was a Premier League referee from the day Sky invented soccer in 1992 until his retirement in 2007 (and who is a distant relative of the Gallagher brothers of Oasis fame), the call was correct:
People said his arms were up but that's because he used his arms for elevation. He has actually mis-kicked it, it has flown up and hit him, so it's not hand to ball, it's ball to hand.
In Gallagher’s eyes, then, the fact that the ball was mis-kicked is key; it’s not that Kos helped the ball across the line, it’s that he was inadvertently in the way of a messed up shot.
Either way, it’s a goal and it’s three points and that’s what matters - it’s clear that Kos didn’t Henry that ball into the net, but there was an arm involved, so it’s nice to hear someone with a decent body of knowledge weigh in and say it was a good goal.