4 hours ago
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Dermot Gallagher has offered his verdict on whether Liverpool's strike against Manchester City ought to have been ruled out.
Andy Robertson was deemed to have blocked Gianluigi Donnarumma's line of sight from an offside position when Virgil van Dijk found the net at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening.
The Scotland captain, stationed several yards in front of the goalkeeper, ducked low as his skipper's header sailed into the top corner. The linesman's flag went up for offside, with the decision promptly examined by Video Assistant Referee Michael Oliver.
Both he and colleague Timothy Wood confirmed the original call, leading to Van Dijk's effort being chalked off.
An official statement from the Premier League Match Centre on social media confirmed that Robertson had performed an 'obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper'. Speaking on Sky Sports' Ref Watch show, Gallagher indicated the ruling is 'open to interpretation'.
The former Premier League referee commented: "It is subjective without doubt, and it is a grey area because it's all about the interpretation.
"Everybody sees things slightly different, and that's why you can throw up an incident from last year or earlier this season and say, 'Well, they made a different decision'. I don't think there are hard and fast rules."
Gallagher went on to say: "I'm not trying to defend Chris Kavanagh, but we shouldn't hang him out to dry because he didn't make the decision yesterday; that was made by the assistant. This was an on-field decision, which was no goal.
"So VAR looks and says, 'is Robertson in an offside position? - yes. Is he impacting on the goalkeeper?' - they obviously felt yes, because he was close. That's why people are going, 'it should be this or this' and open to interpretation."
In contrast to Gallagher, Jay Bothroyd was quick to form an opinion, asserting that the goal should have been allowed.
The former Premier League forward stated: "This should have been given as a goal.
"When you look at Donnarumma, he is coming across slightly to his right but then he pivots to the left, so that means he can see where the ball is going. Robertson has ducked but, if anything, the person who would be in his eye-line more is [Jeremy] Doku.
"'A player making an action' is in the rule. A player making an action, in my opinion, is if he moves towards the ball or he tries to make contact with the ball. Robertson has ducked.
"He's made no effort to try to deflect the ball or get his head on it. He's just got himself out the way of the ball. That's why I think it should have been given and was a poor decision."
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