James Maddison risks FA punishment over rant about Tottenham VAR controversy

James Maddison risks being charged by the Football Association for comments made on social media after Tottenham Hotspur had a goal disallowed against West Ham United.

The referee Jarred Gillett ruled out an opening goal from Cristian Romero after his marker, Kyle Walker-Peters, fell inside the six-yard box before the Spurs captain headed in a Mohammed Kudus corner from close range. Both players are holding onto each other before goalkeeper Mads Hermansen pushes Micky van de Ven into his defender.

Gillet adjudged the contact as a foul and awarded West Ham a free-kick. Video assistant referee John Brooks also agreed.

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Premier League Match Centre then explained that "the referee's call of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR, with it deemed that van de Ven pushed Walker-Peters in the back and impacted his ability to play the ball."

A minute later, Maddison hit out at the decision on social media. "Honestly, the referees and VAR have had an absolute shocker of a start to the season," the player posted on X, formerly Twitter. "If that goal is disallowed for a foul, you will never ever see a corner be taken without the referee blowing for something ever again."

Former Professional Game Match Officials Limited ( PGMOL ) general manager, Keith Hackett, now expects the FA to charge Maddison. "I hope that we never stop players from expressing their opinion," he prefaced the comment, speaking to Tottenham News. "I agree with his view that the season has not started well for match officials.

"I expect Maddison to be charged. The FA are clearly monitoring comments made on social media throughout all levels of the game."

Hackett also spoke on the decision itself to Football Insider. "Given the amount of grappling that we witness at set pieces, we have seen similar incidents go unpunished," he said.

"The inconsistency around these incidents has been going on for several seasons. The fact that a good goal was ruled out emphasised this inconsistency.

"I would have expected this goal to stand and not to be ruled out. PGMOL need to take action to achieve a greater degree of consistency."