The English footballing fraternity was baffled last night as Manchester City’s first goal was allowed to stand against Aston Villa.
It was in the 79th minute and our rivals were on track to drop points – but it wasn’t to be after this bizarre decisions that Villa defender Tyrone Mings actually labelled as ‘nonsense’.
Have a look for yourselves if you haven’t seen it yet:
Never even heard of that rule, just let players stand offside, then run back & tackle you? In hindsight I should’ve cleared it, 100%, but didn’t even know that was the case. Nonsense https://t.co/2UiFEV9eqH
— Tyrone Mings (@TyroneMings) January 20, 2021
The only other time we can remember this pathetic rule being enforced was during a game between Liverpool and Spurs in 2017/18.
Harry Kane is offside as the pass is played, but because it ricochets off Dejan Lovren, a ‘new phase’ apparently starts – and the Englishman is in a one-on-one position.
The reason this is so stupid is between this moment and the goal last night, assistants have put their flag up in similar situations about 10,000 times. Nobody moans. The player is offside.
Why do they only choose to interpret the rule in such a manner every three years?!
Fast forward to 6:03 in the highlights video below to see the incident. Also, watch out for Kane’s horrible dive as well:
The amazing thing about this game was that the problem of players coming from offside positions happened TWICE. With Liverpool 2-1:ahead, late in the game, Lamela came from an offside position to be fouled for the equalising penalty. It was famously remembered by the linesman giving a fist pump after the penalty decision was given.