Everton's Third Goal

[NinjaFletch]

Anger and emotion aside, seeing as it didn't affect the result and all.

But what say you Caf, should that have stood?

I say that its very clearly not a goal, Lukaku runs towards the ball clearly with the intention of playing it, and it bounces through to Mirallas. I can't see the argument that he's not interfering with play there seeing as his movement is what has allowed Mirallas to score.

 

[Xaviesta]

What happened to playing to the whistle?

 

[Joemo]

The movements of an offside player distracted and affected the opposition. Textbook offside.

 

[izec]

no offside. You see them given and here it is the same. He ran towards the ball but stopped early.

 

[NinjaFletch]

What happened to playing to the whistle?

Agreed, but theres other threads to discuss Valencia's mistake. I want to talk purely about the laws here.

 

[rimaldo]

definitely offside and another piss poor piece of officiating in the match. only meant it finished 3-0 instead of 2-0 though so not the end of the world. hopefully it means we buy a right back in the summer too.

 

[Xaviesta]

Agreed, but theres other threads to discuss Valencia's mistake. I want to talk purely about the laws here.

I can live with that being a goal.

 

[Cpt Negative]

no offside. You see them given and here it is the same. He ran towards the ball but stopped early.

Which means he's offside

 

[El Zoido]

It was offside, the ball was played to Lukaku. The flag should have gone up immediately. You can't blame the defenders for not racing back when they've already played a successful offside trap.

 

[Dobba]

What happened to playing to the whistle?

As I said at the time in the match thread, just how many abysmal calls have to be shown on MOTD this season before players stop assuming the officials will get it right and stop the game? The players must be aware of them, they must be.

Like Barkley's dive to get Fellaini booked, our ineptitude and the final score will stop this from being a talking point.

 

[Untied]

It's definitely offside

What happened to playing to the whistle?

That's beside the point. You should play to the whistle in case the officials make a mistake. But it was a mistake.

 

[izec]

Which means he's offside

No. You see players running towards the ball and then signal they wont go for it. The problem is the ref just whisteles when the player actually touches the ball.

 

[bdecuc]

To me the movement by Lukaku to the ball makes him offside. The ball was very near him at that point although it was moving past him.

Don't know the exact wording of the rules but if that's a goal according to the rules then the rules are absurd.

And ok we didn't look like getting back into it but it still finished the game and robbed us of 15 minutes of at least trying to get two goals.

 

[Jerch]

Offside but we would lose anyway. We just didn't had the luck which is needed.

 

[comlag]

Dreadful refereeing throughout the whole match. The goal is offside because Lukaku is clearly off, the linesman raises his flag and so the defenders stop playing momentarily. I agree they should still play to the whistle but refs rarely whistle immediately or even whistle at all for an offside especially one so clear.

To be fair we've had a couple of offsides in our favour of late so you could say it was karma, however the rest of the refs decisions were purely bias.

 

[Aboutreika18]

Funny considering how Rooney moving out of the way of Herrera's shot against Preston, while in an offside position, was seen as being clearly onside by most on here.

Shoe on the other foot and all that.

 

[Amethyst]

Playing to whistle is fine but it's clearly offside, Lukaku's interfering with play as soon as he moves towards it.

 

[Sandikan]

Anger and emotion aside, seeing as it didn't affect the result and all.

But what say you Caf, should that have stood?

I say that its very clearly not a goal, Lukaku runs towards the ball clearly with the intention of playing it, and it bounces through to Mirallas. I can't see the argument that he's not interfering with play there seeing as his movement is what has allowed Mirallas to score.

Years ago this was 100% certain offside job.

These days, it's all open to interpretation, and I think Everton were bloody fortunate 1) the lino didn't flag, and 2) our players all switched off.

 

[izec]

I am not even sure he saw Lukaku in an offside position.

 

[Sandikan]

Funny considering how Rooney moving out of the way of Herrera's shot against Preston, while in an offside position, was seen as being clearly onside by most on here.

Shoe on the other foot and all that.

he didn't affect it though

when someone puts a cross in, that's obviously aimed at the guy right in the middle of the pitch, it's quite likely that's affecting things.

 

[naturalized]

Did the flag actually go up as some are suggesting? I don't remember that.

Unless it did, should've played to the whistle.

 

[buckooo1978]

The ball bounced just in front of Lukaku and our players had all stopped - I understand play to the whistle but the whistle should have been blown - I could understand if Lukaku was walking back but he was chasing it and if I remember correctly he stretched for the ball

Linesman error but time to move on

 

[NinjaFletch]

Courtesy of @DatGuy1993

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[Red Shorts]

Wasn't offside to me. I'm more annoyed about how everybody just stood around and watched. Luckily we were pretty much out of the game at 2-0, so meant little in the end bar a larger defeat

 

[El Zoido]

Offside rule should just go back to how it used to be IMO. At least everyone knows where they stand.

 

[rpitchfo]

It's obviously up for interpretation and that's the problem - no matter what the rules currently say that situation SHOULD be offside. I don't think anybody wants to see people benefiting off that type of confusion, it's not a good goal, it's a technicality. End the confusion.

 

[rimaldo]

if that's legal we should just get falcao to run around their keeper in a circle for the entire 90 minutes next match. he's feck all use for much else.

 

[Dobba]

It's obviously up for interpretation and that's the problem - no matter what the rules currently say that situation SHOULD be offside. I don't think anybody wants to see people benefiting off that type of confusion, it's not a good goal, it's a technicality. End the confusion.

The FA won't give up their "Get Out Of Jail Free" interpretation card that easily. The alternative is holding their officials accountable for getting things wrong and we know how much they like doing that.

 

[All 3 United]

It's obviously up for interpretation and that's the problem - no matter what the rules currently say that situation SHOULD be offside. I don't think anybody wants to see people benefiting off that type of confusion, it's not a good goal, it's a technicality. End the confusion.

This

 

[Brophs]

Don't worry about it, guys. Thierry Henry just analysed it and his expert opinion is that Chris Smalling stepped up to play offside. So....

 

[Leg-End]

If that's now considered legal then the offside trap is on its arse, the striker can influence the trap and a midfielder can run from deep onto the ball unopposed.

 

[bosnian_red]

Offside, clear as day. Awful decision IMO. I understand when it can be made an argument that the player leaves it from the start and the pass wasn't meant for him. Lukaku went for it, realised he was offside as our defence stopped and flag went up, and then mirallas sprints in to try and salvage something and the ref let's it go. You can't just do that, as he made the movement and basically interfered with play as he went to get it at first.

Wouldn't have changed anything, but mariner was shite all day and gave every single thing against us so its not surprising that went against us as well.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

It affected nothing, but it's offside as soon as he moves towards the ball (which he did). Rubbish decision... but not the worst in the game (Which goes to that "foul" on Lennon when he fell over next to Young, which was hilarious)

 

[dsch]

Should have been offside. The cross was aimed at him, and he moved towards the ball. It would have been an easy offside to give as well, so close to the halfway line.

Rooney in the cup could have been given, but was a bit different. It was a shot and not a pass to him, and he didn't move towards it but the opposite. So the question there is whether he was interfering with play.

 

[ha_rooney]

He was offside and should've been called. He made an attempt to go for the ball, the ball was played specifically to him and the defence reacted to him being offside. If he was walking back or stood still then I could understand but when he ran for the ball, he should've been flagged.

The officials were utter shit, not that they or this goal affected the result.

 

[AllezLesDiables]

Clear offside play. Lukaku clearly affected the defenders. The ball itself landed quite close to him and then Mirallas ran on to it.

Bad for the defense to stop but I could see why they did.

 

[Bubz27]

Funny considering how Rooney moving out of the way of Herrera's shot against Preston, while in an offside position, was seen as being clearly onside by most on here.

Shoe on the other foot and all that.

That's the big difference. Rooney moved out of the way and Lukaku moved towards the ball.

It was clearly offside and its not up for debate. Lukaku interferes with play by moving towards the ball. We'll see no issue made about it as we were well beaten already.

And we'll see nothing brought up about Barkley's dive to get Fellaini booked either.

 

[Manchie]

But it was not only Valencia but McNair and Smalling also stopped

 

[dsch]

It affected nothing, but it's offside as soon as he moves towards the ball (which he did). Rubbish decision... but not the worst in the game (Which goes to that "foul" on Lennon when he fell over next to Young, which was hilarious)

When there are multiple candidates for "worse decision of the game" ...

 

[stu_1992]

It's hard to say, but what I do know is you can't just switch off unless it's definitely given. That's cost us the goal, more than any "offside definition" today.