This is my point. I won't criticize any of our players or manager for that first half performance when a referee makes a basic mistake like that. Did I see it wrong? Does it not matter as a normal free kick would be moved forward ?
I think that summed up his performance tonight. His 2 assistants were at opposites with flagging for offsides. When they were offside the Lino ( rightly) waited to see if offside player got the ball, the other one just flagged as soon as ball was played. One of these led to the one where they took the kick 10 yards in our half. By far worse one we’ve had this season.
I get the potential mistakes of humans of offside in the lead to the first goal, and subsequent potential wrong penalty decision. What I can't take is an offside decision to be allowed to be taken in the wrong half of the field.
I can’t see the point in the referees getting the power that they have been asking for to stomp out time wasting and abuse from players but then never actually implement it. The Pompy players had him in their pocket for the entire match. That incident with their player refusing to go off after being told multiple times by the ref and continued putting his boot back on on the pitch really summed it up for me. First match styles got booked for waking away from a free kick but now they seem to just have thrown it all out of the window. The lino on the east stand side really didn’t cover himself in glory either, missed about 3 offsides which we were dead in line with but the lino was about 5 years behind play constantly. Doesn’t excuse our terrible first half performance at all but we really were up against it with those two numptys officiating
Spot on. The player took the ball forward into our half in front of the linesman who did f all to attract the referees attention to it. Everybody near dugout drew his attention to it but no... nothing done. Inept referee and spineless linesman.
Worst of it is the mere act of making him take it back to the right place alters the course of the entire match from that point.
The ref was only a few yards away and was looking straight at the player who took the kick, it wasn’t the assistant’s shout to be honest
Someone once explained why a free kick for an offside can be taken from the opponent's half of the field. It was on here. It sort of made sense at the time, I think, but I'm buggered if I can think of a logical reason now. Summat to do with taking the freekick from where the ball was played, but that doesn't even begin to make sense to me now.
That’s a tad dramatic! It was a **** up by the ref, but the kick was passed back to a player about 30 yards behind him, so he would only have passed it to him anyway, so it had no bearing on the match. Apart from adding to the feeling that the officials were inept.
Someone just suggested that as I mentioned it in work. I don't see how that can be possible. However, I don't know the rules inside out. I thought I knew this basic rule though.
The only place a free-kick can be taken anywhere except from where the offence occurred is in the 6 yarder as I understand it.
As I understand it, if when the ball is passed forward to a player standing in an offside position the offence is complete when the attacking player receives the ball or becomes involved in an active part of play like putting the defender under pressure for possession of the ball. The free kick is taken from the point at which either of those two circumstances occur. Therefore it is possible for the attacking player to give away the free kick in his/her own half if they were in an offside position in the opponent’s half when the ball was passed but in their own half when they received it. (As explained by Dermot Gallagher on Soccer Saturday last week)
So what is the purpose of having linesman at all. I thought it was to assist the referee because the role linesman in the modern game is negligible.
Do you know how long that's been the case? I'd expect the kick to be taken in line from where the linesman has his flag up.
As far as I'm aware, a free kick for offside has NEVER been taken from where the player played the ball forwards but always from where the offside player was at the time of the offence. Ergo it has always got to be inside the half of the pitch of the defending side.
I remember this happening last season too, and to another club in the area who were talking about it on Radio Sheffield.