Rashford WAS interfering in that farcical United goal which really could cost Man City the title
JUST imagine the backlash if that offside controversy at Old Trafford in the derby costs Manchester City the Premier League title.
I make no apologies for harking back to the incredible, nonsensical and, frankly, wrong decision that Marcus Rashford was not interfering with play when he effectively shielded the ball and left it for Bruno Fernandes to equalise.
It is one of the biggest farces I have witnessed in the top flight.
And if you want to know its true impact on the title race, here is the sting in the tail.
If that goal had been chalked off, as every ounce of common sense dictates, I believe City would have gone on to beat Manchester United.
With an extra three points on the board, it means they could have gone top of the table by beating Wolves tomorrow, if only for a couple of hours because Arsenal’s game against United is the late kick-off.
For the first time since
October, when they beat Liverpool 3-2 to regain the No.1 spot, we might have found out if the Gunners could cope with the ‘scoreboard pressure’ of playing catch-up.
But I fear the title race could yet be affected by that awful decision, and don’t tell me that a single point here or there will make no difference.
Three years ago, in the first game after lockdown, Sheffield
United were denied a blatant goal at Aston
Villa when goal-line technology failed and the game finished 0-0.
Villa keeper Orjan Nyland was pictured falling over the line and into his own net clutching the ball (above) – an obvious goal, but nothing was given.
Ultimately, that draw changed the course of history. It kept Villa in the Premier League by a single point.
If new referees’ chief Howard Webb did not know it already, he has a massive job on his hands to sort out VAR farces and the wretched confusion over current application of the offside and handball laws.
Every week, VAR officials go through every goal with a fine tooth comb and find reasons to chalk off goals because someone’s toenail is offside... and yet something so blatant, so obvious, is allowed to stand because the wording of the law is not enough for it to be disallowed?
Come off it!
You can’t tell me that pass was meant for anyone but Rashford, or that City goalkeeper Ederson thought anyone but Rashford was going to play it.
City can feel aggrieved by one of the worst decisions you will see on a football pitch. It was a fantastic advert for the naked eye and common sense being more useful than VAR technology or officials re-refereeing games from Stockley Park. City were still suffering some derby hangover in the first half against Tottenham on Thursday, and I was surprised they kept the ball just for the sake of possession.
Spurs were sitting so deep there was no space for Erling Haaland to run in behind, but once Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish started running at their full-backs, there was much more purpose.
Mahrez was tremendous and Haaland made it 28 goals for the season – 22 of them in the Premier League, only one fewer than Mo Salah and Heung-min Son’s 23 apiece which earned them a share of the Golden Boot last May.
Haaland’s first goal in four appearances should put a stop to the other contender for worst claptrap this season – that City are a better side without him.
That theory is almost as bad as making a case that United’s equaliser in the derby should have stood.
BY
JURGEN KLOPP wonders what life would be like if he did not hit the ground running at Mainz.
But he is certainly thankful smartphones were not in the pockets of most people in 2001.
The Liverpool boss will take charge of his 1,000th game as a manager today when the Reds host Chelsea at Anfield. He has won the Champions League, the Premier League, Bundesliga and plenty of cups along the way at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.
But his career began with a relegation battle at Mainz when he finished playing in February 2001, aged 33.
However, he won the first six of seven games before the German club avoided the drop into the third tier with a game to spare. When asked what his advice would be for that younger Klopp, he said: “From this standpoint, the easiest thing would be, ‘Don’t worry, it will be fine’. How this job is, from the first seven games we won six and if we lost one more we would be relegated.
“To win five from the first seven would have been an outstanding number and no one would have recognised it, you are just down to the third league and a promising coaching career would be finished before it really started.
“I was lucky that didn’t happen.”
The 55-year-old
German has turned into a managerial force, though.
He built
Dortmund into a side which was able to muscle in on Bayern Munich’s dominance in Germany. While he ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a league title and helped them to a sixth European Cup (below).
But there have been plenty of downs to go with the ups. Like now as the Reds sit 10 points off the top four and in danger of not qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
“Coaching is like golf, when you think you have got it the game will tell you differently,” he said.
“You always have to develop and that is what I like most about it.
“It was not for one second boring, that is the best thing you can say about your working life, and the best thing I can imagine to do.” He has won 538 of his 999 games in charge so far, losing 222 of them as he added to a glittering trophy cabinet over the years.
Today he will face a manager who has made his step up to a so-called big club in Graham Potter. The Chelsea boss is under some pressure after a stuttering start to life at Stamford Bridge.
Potter has to deal with the immediacy of management now when results are expected instantly and every move is scrutinised more than ever thanks to the constant force of social media.
It is something Klopp is so glad was not a thing when he began management 22 years ago. He added: “When I became a manager did we have smartphones? No. Great times, it means much less information.
“I analysed games with a video recorder, DVD. That is how it started. When you wanted to know what the outside world thought, you had to ask somebody or open a newspaper. It is easy not to open a newspaper or not ask someone.
“You come to social media, oh my god, all these people without any knowledge. In my day you had to write a letter to a newspaper and wait until they print it and now it is a second.
“I really think the best advice, from a 55-year-old perspective, is ignore the outside world.”
■■ KLOPP has thanked Liverpool fans for their help in trying to eradicate homophobic abuse aimed at Chelsea.
He used his programme notes ahead of today’s clash to talk about the ‘rent boy’ chant, which has been sung in past by Kop fans at Blues players.
He said: “I show gratitude to our supporters for the work they have done in stopping a chant which does not fit in with the traits of our city, our club or our people.”