'Not about the line of vision' - analysis
- Published
Subjective offside decisions, those where the player does not touch the ball, are always controversial.
They require interpretation about impact from the officials, and that is often not straightforward.
And Chris Kavanagh, who was the referee for Sunday's game between Manchester City and Liverpool, knows all about them.
As Virgil van Dijk's header made its way towards goal, Andy Robertson ducked to allow the ball to go into the net. The defender was standing offside, and the assistant raised his flag for offside.
This decision was not about line of vision, but "an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball".
The offside law does not require a referee to think City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma would definitely save it, only that his ability to do so has been affected. It is the ducking motion which is absolutely crucial because it could put doubt into the goalkeeper's mind about a potential touch.
If Donnarumma had not been standing close to Robertson, or if the player was not in the six-yard box, the case for offside would have been weak.
But there must be an argument that Donnarumma had been impacted. For that reason, as the on-field team gave offside, it was not likely to be overturned through a video assistant referee review.
It is a borderline call, but still supportable as an on-field decision.
However, officials are advised it is usually best to leave complicated subjective offside decisions to the VAR, and if that had happened Liverpool were likely to have had had an equaliser.
A good comparison is a disallowed Everton goal against Manchester United in March 2020. Dominic Calvert-Lewin's shot was deflected towards goal, and an offside Gylfi Sigurdsson, who was sitting inside the six-yard box, withdrew his legs to allow the ball through. The referee? Chris Kavanagh.
We can compare it to a goal which was given through VAR last season. John Stones' late winner for Manchester City at Wolves was chalked off on the field for Bernardo Silva being in the line of vision of goalkeeper Jose Sa.
But while he was close to Sa, he was not in front of him and, unlike Robertson, he did not duck out of the path of the ball. The referee? Chris Kavanagh.
We have seen a couple of similar situations this season - a Manchester United goal at Nottingham Forest, and one for Leeds against Bournemouth - where an offside player has made a small movement away from the ball.
In those cases it was felt that movement and the positions of the players (they were not inside the six-yard box) was not enough to affect the goalkeeper.