simon23
Well-Known Member
Here is the link to law 11
Its a down to the interpritation of whether Rasford tried to play the ball or not(highlighted bit)
2. Offside offence
A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:
- interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or
- interfering with an opponent by:
- preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
- challenging an opponent for the ball or
- clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
- making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball
- there is also this bit:
- a player moving from, or standing in, an offside position is in the way of an opponent and interferes with the movement of the opponent towards the ball this is an offside offence if it impacts on the ability of the opponent to play or challenge for the ball; if the player moves into the way of an opponent and impedes the opponent's progress (e.g blocks the opponent) the offence should be penalised under Law 12
So
Did he clearly try to play the ball or try to?
No he doesnt - he runs with the ball infront of him but at no time does he attempt to play the ball
and
Did he stop any of the city defenders from trying to play the ball?
He certainly mentally doesstop them playing for the ball as he adds confusion and this is the bit for me...he distracts both defender and keeper. But he doesnt physically get in the way .....btu again what he does is create indecision in the defenders especially
SO by the laws of the game its a goal BUT the issue is he is interferng with play - but the law doesnt seem to take account for the way he has interefed with play.
As for the rest of the game we were again poor. In the first half we couldnt make simple passes and we are just toothless and are lacking creativity
The HUGE elephant in the room is KDB......he has been shocking recently both in terms of performance and attitude....yes he got an assist today but other than that he was awful; constantly giving the ball away, making NO effort to track back at times. He is ether unfit, unmotivated or he is past it... he needs to be dropped.
Haaland must wonder what is going on...literlally no service...
The rest of the creative side of the game has gone to...Bernardo too deep to affect anything. Mahrez and Foden both completely inaffective in terms of creativity (and as a huge Mahrez critic I thought the rest of his game was good today).
Grealish - got the goal but again did nothing beyond that except wind up opponents.
Akanji.- kept getting caught out of position.
Walker played ok for big parts BUT again out of position
Cancello - isnt a defender
Ake - at least he ties but quality with the ball at his feet isnt good enough
Picking holes in a milli second of the game doesnt take away from how poor we are at present....
Expect the same type of game vs Spurs.....they will do exactly the same to us in terms of attacking our highline but they have better forwards
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