We all thought Kevin Nolan had equalised in the 89th minute at Old Trafford in dramatic fashion and I found myself celebrating the goal that never was along side 2,500 Hammer fans much to the amusement of the Manchester United fans pointing to the linesman flag.
Sam Allardyce told Sky Sports post match: “Somebody told me his nose or his head might be offside, but I don’t think you can base a decision on the fact that it’s a nose or a head offside.There’s no way if that’s the case that the assistant referee can see it. For me it’s blatantly onside and it should have stood as a goal. Nobody else can convince me any other way.”
Here is a photo of the exact moment, looks onside to me, not that it matters anymore.
As much as I would like to agree with you, Sean, here is the reason Nolan was offside, although I agree it takes a brave or biased assistant to call it:
The 2005 edition of the Laws of the Game included a new IFAB decision that stated being “nearer to an opponent’s goal line” meant that “any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (the last opponent typically being the goalkeeper).”
Does that include his nose? Bizarre ruling
Sean, why should a player be discriminated against because he has a big nose? If it comes down to whether his nose, or one of his eyebrows, is in an offside position there is doubt and, if there is doubt, the ruling goes in favour of “Big Nose”
Loooooooooooool
Look at the shadows. Unless the nearside defender is a lot taller than Nolan, the shadows just in front of goal tell a story. The FA rule on this is quite clear – The player must, without doubt, be offside to be called and, if there is any doubt, the decision goes in favour of that player.
We had to wait decades for the the FA to accept goal line technology. Do we have to wait as long for instant replays? Almost every major sport – tennis, NFL, rugby, etc. – uses instant replays, why not football. Every single Premiership game is covered by TV. I know because here in the USA I watch many of them. NBC brags about bringing us every game and, believe me, I do watch a lot of them.
The FA objects to it because, they claim, it would slow the game down. Rubbish, it would actually speed the game up. Do away with offside calls by the linesman altogether. Only when the play is over will the ref/linesmen consider offside. If the ball goes out of play for a goal kick or a corner the game continues. If the ball goes in the net (or otherwise out of play), the officials have the option to call it back for offside if they choose to. If they’re not sure, they can decide to watch the instant replay. If a team doesn’t like the ref’s call (or decision not to call) they can appeal. They get two unsuccessful appeals in each half. Trust me, 90% of the possible offsides will not even need a review and this will definitely speed the game up.
Remember, it is the ref who watches the instant replay and his ultimate decision is final. Believe me, with the whole world watching the replay with him, he will make the right decision 99% of the time. If he makes the wrong decision he will be accountable to all who follow the game, to the fans, to the press, to the FA. This is a “No-Brainer”.
They already have the technology in place because every single Premiership game is covered by TV.
Not clear how anyone can say the nose is nearer the goal than the defenders knee taking into consideration varying height, movement and perspective. Maybe the lino is a Cray super computer in disguise or maybe he just reacted on what he thought he saw which is probably how most tight decisions work and its more luck than skill.
Not that if matters much now as the game is done and dusted and the linesman has made a bad decision that cost us a well deserved point.
But for what it’s worth there was no way the linesman could flag for offside when there were two defenders obscuring his view.
If they were blocking his view then nolan could have been offside!
Finally we shouldn’t have been penalised by an official making a poor guess!
looking at the pic above, nolans head is clearly leaning forward and as deemed by the letter of the law he is offside, so the lino was right.
but, was the lino in line of play when he gave the decision, if so then well done, but if not, it was a lucky guess.
The fact remains we failed to score twice against a 10 man united while Leicester managed it 4 times while they had 11 on the pitch.