Liverpool’s opening goal against Fulham on Sunday should not have counted, according to Mark Clattenburg. What do you think?
The former Premier League referee branded the attack as “illegal” because the ball was still moving when Alisson took the free-kick. Liverpool were awarded the set-piece after Alexandar Mitrovic’s goal was ruled out because he was in an offside position.
In a desperate bid to start a counter attack, Alisson took a quick free-kick and the attack led to Mohamed Salah scoring the opener. Clattenburg agrees with the offside decision, but believes that Liverpool should have been penalised.
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Clattenburg said: “A part of the body that can score a goal only needs to be in an offside position and in this case, Aleksandar Mitrovic is marginally off.
It is always a difficult decision for an assistant referee when a cross is delivered with pace and the defenders and attackerrs are moving in opposite directions.
Yes, other Fulham players were offside, but they were not in active play.
I felt assistant Adrian Holmes guessed when Tom Cairney’s delivery came into the penalty box because he was out of position and too far forward in relation to the second most rear defender.
I believe that’s why he got this decision wrong as Andrew Robertson just played Mitrovic onside.
It was a big call for Fulham because of their lowly league position.
If they went in at half-time one goal up the game could have turned out differently.
To compound Fulham’s woes, the ball was still moving when goalkeeper Alisson took the subsequent free-kick and 14 seconds later Liverpool scored.
Clattenburg has also suggested that the Tierney should have given the visitors time to organise themselves before play resumed.
He added: “After his header, Mitrovic started his celebration too.
“In situations when a tight offside has been given and a team is celebrating, usually the referee will delay the match to make sure all players are ready for the retake.
“On this occasion, Tierney didn’t and Liverpool capitalised.”
The Reds went on to win 2-0 after Xherdan Shaqiri doubled his team’s tally in the 53rd minute.