Handball or ballhand

Recently in the Manchester United vs. Arsenal match there was a penalty kick given for handball.  I saw this live on Monday afternoon (the 13th) and thought it harsh then.  I was able to find a video of the game, unfortunately not one of just the incident, and it is located here: http://www.footytube.com/video/manchester-united-arsenal-dec13-67803.

At 12:30 in the video Howard Webb has played a wonderful advantage.  Park had been cut down but the ball bounced right into the path of Anderson, who plays it to Nani.  Nani takes on Clichy and beats him to the end line, only for Clichy to slip on the wet turf and fall.  As Clichy is falling the ball is played by Nani but goes directly into the extended arm of Clichy.

Here is where we must decipher what Clichy is trying to do.  According to the laws of the game a handball must be deliberate.  The guidelines from USSF say deliberate is intentionally handling the ball, i.e. slapping the ball, or making oneself bigger.  From what I can see here Clichy does neither.  His arm is extended not to make himself bigger but to balance himself in an effort to stand back up and defend, something that ANY player would do, meaning it is a normal playing position.  He clearly did not intentionally handle the ball as he made no clear attempt to touch the ball with his hand.

The AR called the penalty, not the referee.  Immediately after being recognized by Webb the AR motions his arm indicating to Webb, the center, that Clichy deliberately moved his arm to handle the ball.  From the replay this is flat out wrong.

I don't want to just throw the AR under the bus as I realize this game is a very high level and is moving extremely fast, but to make that call in the box is harsh.  This call could have completely changed the game, putting Man United up 2-0 and really putting the game out of reach.  We as referees must be able to slow the game down in our minds and instantaneously replay the events that just occurred.  In this case, we need to immediately be asking ourselves whether the hand played the ball or the ball played the hand.  Clearly the ball was played into the hand, which was in a normal position.  Therefore, there is no penalty for me.

One last point about this situation.  Howard Webb does well to protect his AR after the call has been made.  I always tell my ARs that I will sell there calls, unless I see something 100% different.  If I'm Webb and I give the penalty I will also protect my ARs and Webb does that well here.  Nasri and Clichy, particularly Nasri, are moving towards the AR and screaming at him.  Webb comes in, gets in between the players and the AR and moves them back, even giving Nasri a caution.  Excellent teamwork here.