Liverpool were furious after Virgil van Dijk’s goal against Manchester City was disallowed, but Howard Webb has defended the decision.
Howard Webb understands Liverpool’s anger at Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal against Manchester City, but believes it was “not unreasonable” for the effort to be ruled out.
The Reds looked to have equalized nine minutes after Erling Haaland’s opener in the 29th minute when Van Dijk headed home a Mohamed Salah corner.
However, the goal was disallowed after referee Chris Kavanagh and assistant Stuart Burt ruled that Andrew Robertson had committed an offside offense by ducking under the flight of the ball, believing he had interfered with Gianluigi Donnarumma’s efforts to make the save.
A VAR check confirmed the decision on the pitch, and City went on to claim a comfortable victory thanks to goals from Nico Gonzalez and the excellent Jeremy Doku.
The result put City four points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal but left reigning champions Liverpool eight points off the pace.
Liverpool later complained to Webb about the decision, raising “serious concerns” while telling the head of refereeing at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that they did not believe it had been made subjectively.
Webb, however, took the opposite view.
Webb responds to Liverpool argument
Speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up, Webb stressed he understood why Liverpool felt the goal should have stood.
On the other hand, he insisted that such calls are very subjective for match officials.
“Interfering with an opponent when the player in an offside position is not playing the ball and officials must judge whether that player’s actions have an impact on an opponent, are among the most subjective decisions we have to make,” Webb said.
“Therefore, it is not surprising that some people think this target should have been maintained. So I think it’s important that we look at the facts about what actually happened in this situation.
“We know the corner is coming and the ball hits Van Dijk. As the ball crosses the penalty area, the Manchester City players come out, they leave Robertson in this offside position in the heart of the penalty area.
“When Van Dijk heads the ball forward, that’s the moment where we have to make an offside judgment on Robertson and what he’s doing there.
“We know he’s not touching the ball, but what is he doing? Well, as the ball is coming towards him, three meters from goal, right in the middle of the six-yard box, he makes this clear action to duck under the ball.
“The ball goes right over his head, and the ball finds the goal in the half of the penalty area where he is. Then the officials have to make a judgment: did this clear action have an impact on Donnarumma, the goalkeeper, and his ability to save the ball? And that’s where subjectivity comes into play.
“That’s obviously the conclusion they drew. They looked at that position, they looked at that action, so close to the goalkeeper, and they formed that opinion.
“I know that’s not everyone’s opinion, but I think it’s not unreasonable to understand why they come to that conclusion.
“The player is so close to the goalkeeper, the ball is coming straight towards him and he has to dodge to get away from the ball – and they conclude that this has an impact on Donnarumma’s ability to dive towards the ball and make that save.
“And then, of course, once they’ve made that decision on the pitch, the VAR’s job is to look at that and decide was the offside result clearly and demonstrably wrong?
“Only Donnarumma really knows if he was hit by that and, of course, we have to look at the factual evidence, and when we see that factual evidence of that position of the player dodging under the ball, so close to the goalkeeper, the VAR determines that the offside result is not clearly and demonstrably wrong, and they stay out of that.”
