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Former ref gives firm verdict on Pogba goal

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says the officials got it wrong in allowing Paul Pogba’s goal against the Hammers to stand.

The Frenchman equalised with a stunner from range against the Hammers, as Manchester United came from 1-0 down to win 3-1.

The ball looked to have gone out, though, when Dean Henderson punted it forward, before it landed at the feet of Bruno Fernandes, who played the ball across to Pogba.

David Moyes claimed afterwards that he saw the ball go out and that has since been confirmed by other media outlets.

Dermot Gallagher has now weighed in, declaring the decision, quite clearly, was wrong, and has laid the blame at the feet of the linesman on that side, who simply wasn’t looking where he should have been!

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “There’s a couple of issues here. The guy that had the best view didn’t use it. The assistants prioritise offsides and the ball out of play. In this situation the ball was so far down the wing when Henderson kicked it that offside is immaterial at that point, the key issue is where is the ball going to go.

“The assistant is looking straight across the field at the offside and doesn’t see the flight of the ball, so it didn’t get picked up on the field. When it went to VAR, there was no conclusive evidence that the ball had gone out.

“It looks out, and subsequently we have seen it did go out, but the calibration is horizontal – there is not lateral line – so they couldn’t calibrate from corner flag to corner flag to see the ball had gone out. It’s just one of those things that got missed.

There is little doubt that Pogba’s goal completely changed the pattern of the game, as United went on to score twice more and take all three points.

Disappointing!

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

6 comments on “Former ref gives firm verdict on Pogba goal

  1. Time to let this one go me thinks. Yes it was out, yes the lino messed up, yes it’s weird that MOTD has the tech to show it but VAR doesn’t, but what’s it going to change. Just bad luck.

  2. So what was the 4th ref doing? He was also by David Moyes? And doesn’t Var provide the final adjudication on offsides anyway – so the Lino could be focused on the track of the ball? Vary poor all round from the officials

  3. The “Game” has changed and it is no longer simple enough to call decisions like this bad luck.
    The stakes are high these days and with the money involved, it should no longer be a case of put up with it and move on. VAR was meant to do this in part (but has forced these decisions to be made in darkened rooms by faceless wonders)…. but line technology shouldn’t be too difficult to put into place.
    The losers are usually teams like us…. and the winners…

  4. Assistant Referee (Linesman) & 4th Referee inexcusable mistakes!

    VAR technology must be equipped with technology to identify these mistakes too.

    VAR Officials could see flight off-ball over Moyes who as a reference point for problem-solving decision, but they lack sensible deducement initiative.

    Until inept officials are demoted & match fees penalised for errors, their performance standards will not improve.

  5. With refs and linesman seemingly unable or unwilling to make clear and concise judgements, perhaps it is time we considered an alternative arrangement and my suggestion would be to use 4 linesman, 2 on each side, running the line at the front and the rear of play. In addition a second onfield ref could be added, running each side of an “oval” pattern as play moves up and down the pitch. With this in place, we could ditch VAR and set up static cameras, monitoring the sidelines and bylines to determine whether or not the ball has crossed the line at any point on the perimeter of the pitch. Video coverage of the game could be restricted to 2 cameras, either side of the centre line and replays banned during the game and especially on the big screen at the game.
    One of the 2 refs should be nominated as the ” Senior Official” and should have the final say after consulting his assistants, if he so wishes. There is no need for the general public to dissect each incident during the game and we deserve no better view of the game than the real fans in the stands.
    All that remains then, is for the ref to “grow some” and start penalizing players for diving and feigning injury and possibly adopting the “sin bin system” for all incidents other than obviously vicious tackles and contacts.
    VAR is killing the game and is flawed and totally unnecessary.

  6. Too late now we know. But surely the officials should be reviewing this in private now. Its not unreasonable in this multi-million pound industry to expect them to do their job – clue in the job description ‘running the line’. Getting fed up with regular bad luck stuff with handball, penalties and now out of play.

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