Alan Wiley and his assistant took a while to make the offside decision between them in yesterday's Derby-Man Utd match, but the most important thing is that they made the correct decision, even if it did take about 30-40 seconds to get there.
Obviously it's not ideal, but the assistant, unable to see if Giggs had flicked the ball on to Ronaldo, who was in an offside position, did the right thing to keep his flag down and let play flow to see how it developed. If Riley had been certain there had no contact, play would have continued and Ronaldo's lovely goal would have stood. As it was, he was able to tell the assistant there had been contact and the two were able to agreed he was offside.
Ferguson's rage and bile were, as usual, close to the surface and he launched a wave of investive at the fourth official because he didn't understand what was going on. Well I'm sorry, you're just going to have to accept that Sir Alex isn't running the game, the officials are.
It's such a shame that football has reached such a stage where players, club officials, broadcasters and the crowd are just waiting hungrily to tear the heads off the officials, especially when they all have such a limited understanding of the game.
2 comments:
As the Man Utd keeper Foster threw out the ball could Ronaldo have been offside at that time? if so did the flick from Giggsy make any difference? I'd say that although the team appeared to make the correct decision the assistant involved waited a hell of a time, why didn't he just use the comms system to ask within a few seconds of Ronaldo getting the ball? whilst it may have been eventually correct how many of those inside the stadium had a clue what happened and why?, why can't the officials mikes be opened over the tannoy, oh yes I remember why, the FA don't want us, the public to hear all the foul language that happens at every game, so much for respect at the top end of the game, Football will never get to be like rugger unless those at the top take a tough stance
Who wants it to be like rugger? You can't open the mics either as surely conversations between the officials should remain private?
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