Offside row over Sterling’s hat-trick
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THEY won comfortably enough in the end. And beautifully enough, too. Manchester City almost always win beautifully.
Raheem Sterling’s second goal in the 3-1 victory over Watford was a tap- in after a typical piece of majestic play from David Silva.
His third was a virtuoso’s dance through a packed defence a delicate finish that deceived Ben Foster. But over all the beauty lay a shadow.
With City mired in controversy over allegations about attempts to circumvent Financial Fair Play rules and other practices that have encouraged an alphabet soup of authorities to open investigations into them, that was inevitable before this game kicked off.
In the circumstances, the last thing City needed was another inquest, this time over something that happened on the pitch, but that is what they got.
When they are locked in a title race with Liverpool that is so close that every point and every goal is important, it was also inevitable that their first goal should invite fierce scrutiny.
It seemed straightforward enough. City, who went four points clear of Jurgen Klopp’s side with this win, and their fans had begun to grow frustrated at the stalemate developing in front of them when Sergio Aguero ran on to a through ball in the first minute of the second half and miscontrolled it. It rolled to Sterling, who was in an offside position.
Sterling challenged for the ball but, before he could touch it, Watford defender Daryl Janmaat tried to clear it and it rebounded off Sterling and looped over Foster into the net. The linesman on the far side flagged for offside.
It looked like the correct decision even though Sterling mouthed ‘no way, no way’ as he realised the flag was up.
The laws of the game state that a player is active if he is challenging for the ball, which Sterling was.
But the offside law has become stuck in confusion. The awarding of a penalty to Harry Kane in the North London derby recently, when he appeared offside, provoked a discussion with no clear outcome.
And now, with so much on the line, there was more uncertainty. For some reason referee Paul Tierney ran over to his assistant to discuss his decision. The two men talked for three minutes, trying to keep worried Watford players at bay.
Eventually Mr Tierney decided the goal should stand. He pointed to the centre circle and launched a thousand more unwanted and unneeded conspiracy theories.
City would probably have won the game anyway. They were t he dominant side. Watford, who had made seven changes from their last match, were offering very little. But who knows? When a title race is this tight, the least that clubs and fans should expect is some clarity in decisions. It is not fair on City, either. Their football remains a delight but off the pitch their problems are mounting.
There is an awkward symmetry about the fact that as they chase an unprecedented four trophies so they face an unprecedented four investigations about their financial dealings.
There were suggestions that American-owned Premier League clubs, whose proprietors are used to strict financial regulations in US sports, have been particularly keen to prod the Premier League into investigating City.
A grand slam of football authorities — FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League and the Football Association — are now doing so.
The headline issue is their alleged manipulation of sponsorship income to try to circumvent UEFA’s FFP regulations but there are also questions about City’s acquisition of youth players, use of third-party ownership and questionable accounting over image rights.
Their football has a habit of washing away bad headlines but they struggled to break Watford.
The Hornets started with a pragmatic selection, resting Gerard Deulofeu and Troy Deeney, saving them for a day when they had more chance of winning.
Straight after kick off they set up camp on the edge of their own area like an army prepared for a long siege and City began their bombardment. However tightly a team packs it defence, City always seem to be able to find holes in it and it only took three minutes for Silva to float a delicious ball over their defence for Sterling to run on to. Sterling tried to hook the ball over Foster but succeeded only in diverting it into the area.
Silva went close himself a couple of minutes later, flinging himself at a cross from Riyad Mahrez, getting to it before Foster but glancing it inches wide. After that, Watford soaked up everything, rarely venturing into City’s half.
A rather dreary stalemate ensued until just before half an hour when Aguero headed wide from a driven Bernardo Silva cross when he should have scored. Pep Guardiola turned away and held his head in his hands.
The first murmurs of restlessness began to creep into the atmosphere as half-time approached and still Watford would not yield.
City have been content to watch as the narrative unfolded that Liverpool were buckling under the title pressure. The prospect of dropping points at home to Watford had not been factored into the equation.
When the half-time whistle went, it was met with a crescendo of groans and boos. Some of them were aimed at Tierney, who had failed to spot a deflection that should have led to a City corner late in the half.
Some of them were just a response a frustrating half low on excitement and low on opportunity. Watford had not mustered a single shot, on or off target.
City had gone in goalless at the i nterval i n their previous two league matches, against Bournemouth and West Ham, and won both games.
They are no strangers to the exercise of patience but it turned out they did not need much once the second half had begun. It was l ess t han a minute ol d when Sterling put them ahead with the controversial goal.
The protests of t he Watford players had barely subsided when City went further ahead. There were no arguments about the goal this time. It was fashioned by the magician David Silva, who slipped a pass through a defender’s legs and into the path of Mahrez.
Mahrez slid the ball across goal and Sterling, who was definitely onside this time, tapped it in.
Just before an hour had gone Sterling scored his third goal in 13
minutes, collecting another clever through ball from David Silva, jinking past two defenders in the box and lifting his shot over Foster who had begun to dive to his left to try to anticipate his intentions.
There was no controversy about the hat-trick goal, just brilliance from Sterling.
Watford pulled a goal back midway through the half when a l ong clearance by Foster was nodded on by second- half sub Deeney and allowed to run across goal by Nicolas Otamendi.
Otamendi failed to see Deulofeu, another fresh introduction, on his blind side and Deulofeu poked the ball past Ederson. It was his first touch. He had been on the pitch for 17 seconds.
Watford improved after that but they could not get the next goal they needed to put City under pressure. Before the match petered out the inquest into Sterling’s goal was already in full flow.