Apologies if I misunderstood, but he is wrong by your explanation also. The law says a player is offside is they are "interfering with an opponent by making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball".
Running with the ball at your feet is an obvious action. Feigning to kick the ball is an obvious action. Obstructing an opponent from a direct route to the ball is an obvious action. Leaving the ball for an opponent at the last second is an obvious action. All these obvious actions affected City's players.
Ederson's "ability" to play the ball is clearly impacted, because he is unable to play a ball that is possessed by an opposition player. If he goes to play the ball, the opposition player, who Ederson thinks is onside, will just kick the ball before Ederson gets to it.
Also, under law 2, Rashford's actions are consistent with "shielding the ball". You can't shield the ball and fail to interfere with play simultaneously. It's a shame the expert Johnson didn't consider other aspects of the LOTG.
This nonsense about pretending Rashford isn't there is subterfuge. He was there. He had a major impact on what happened. Some people are jumping through hoops trying to legitimise the goal. The law is pretty clear on the matter. Don't let people convince you otherwise.
