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Sunday, January 29, 2012

It's tough as hell, but Clattenburg must do better

It's an issue that will keep top referees like Mark Clattenburg awake at night. How to avoid a repitition of the mistake that gave Stoke City an offside goal during their FA Cup match against Derby County on Saturday.
It'll be little comfort to Clattenburg, who I'm delighted to see is now a FIFA elite referee, to know that almost no-one would have spotted that Cameron Jerome, in a clear offside position two yards off the goal-line, hooked the ball into the net to give Stoke the lead.

Most, apart from a couple of alert Derby defenders, thought that the onside Robert Huth had scored, but it was Jerome. Television replays showed it was Jerome's goal, but is there anything Clattenburg or his assistant could have done to spot the misdeed?
Let's clear the assistant first. From 30-40 yards away, he may have seen Jerome in an offside position, but he most probably could not see from his distance that it was Cameron, standing right next to Huth, who scored.
As for Clattenburg, could he have done anything about his positioning? Possibly.
The goal came from a corner, for which Clattenburg took up the usual position for top referees of a yard or two outside the penalty area. He retreated a couple of yards in reaction to Stoke taking a short corner and the ballholder getting close to him. So when the ball found its way into Huth/Cameron, Clattenburg found himself at least 20 yards away, too far away for his own comfort to make a credible decision.
If the corner had proceeded normally, Clattenburg would have drifted in as the ball pinged around close to the goal. He's fit and fast and anticipates well. But in this case he forced himself into an uncomfortable position.
There's no certainty he would have spotted the offside player from 15 yards, but he'd have had a better chance.
Communication with the assistant would also have helped. Did Clattenburg get a tip from the assistant, saying, "Cameron's in offside position but I think Huth kicked the ball" (except they would have used shirt numbers).
And Clattenburg may have had a chance to think a bit more closely, even giving himself chance to run over to the assistant, giving both a chance to replay the incident.
This may seem harsh on Mark Clattenburg, but I'm proud that he's one of our best officials and I'm sure he'll be hard on himself too.

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