Arsenal’s goalless draw against Liverpool on Monday night was punctuated by bad defending, bad finishing and good goalkeeping.
One effort did find the back of the net, but Aaron Ramsey’s eighth minute strike was wrongly ruled out for offside.
The assistant referees have a tough job, having to watch the ball as it’s played as well as looking across the line to see the last defender and the forward. It’s no easy job, but wrong decisions shouldn’t be influencing the results of games so often.
“It was a regular goal,” Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger said after the match. “It was a period of the game where we maybe had the most problems defensively but it’s a regular goal.
“I can’t see why it was cancelled. It’s clear and on that front you cannot say that Liverpool can complain.”
Wenger said he could even see the decision was wrong from the technical area, and was proven right by the replays. Martin Skrtel clearly played Ramsey onside, so why didn’t the goal stand? Wenger didn’t bother to seek an explanation from the officials.
“I didn’t ask for any explanation,” the manager confirmed. “What does it change? It’s about decision-making and he got it wrong. I could see live that he could not be offside.
“He started his run behind his man. I could see it from where I was.”
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, who saw his side benefit from a bad offside call a week earlier to defeat Bournemouth, somehow excused the officials and said they made a good decision.
Brendan Rodgers on Ramsey disallowed goal: ‘I have seen a replay, his shirt looks offside … great decision by the linesman’
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceIndy) August 24, 2015
I don’t think I’ll ever understand Rodgers, and this point of view is just plain weird. The game is over, so I’m not entirely sure where the harm would be in admitting Liverpool got away with one.
Deluded Brendan, eh?