Everton’s pulsating 3-3 draw with Manchester City was full of drama. There were late goals, a defensive calamity and VAR controversy.
Barry’s Offside Goal Allowed to Stand
At the top of the list was Thierno Barry’s first goal. The Everton striker benefited from being in an offside position thanks to an “assist” from City’s Marc Guehi.
The assistant initially raised his flag for offside against Thierno Barry before referee Michael Oliver deemed the goal should be allowed to stand. Barry was waiting on the shoulder of Guehi as Rohl played a through ball.
It was not a good pass by the German midfielder, straight to the feet of the Manchester City defender. Guehi under hit a back pass which Barry latched on to to score.
Barry was offside and the assistant raised his flag to disallow the goal initially, but he was quickly overruled by Oliver.
The Offside Law Explained
The law asks a few key questions: Did Barry do anything which could have caused Guehi to rush, or to influence his poor pass?
Barry did move towards the ball, but did that really impact Guehi?
And did Guehi have full expectation of a controlled outcome from playing the ball?
“Barry is in an offside position when the ball is played but it’s down to Guehi,” former Manchester City and Everton defender Andy Hinchcliffe said on Sky Sports.
“He is in control of his actions, so suddenly the attacker goes from offside to onside. That is why the goal rightly stands. That is disastrous from Guehi.”
Without these subjective judgements, you would have to penalise every player just for being in an offside position – even if they were not close to the opponent.
Guehi’s mishap is among the most obvious examples of a pure defensive howler, and clearly should cancel any offside.
Penalty Shout and Potential Red Card
Toffees boss David Moyes said he was “amazed” his side were not given a penalty when Bernardo Silva dragged down Merlin Rohl in the final five minutes.
And then there was the potential red card for Everton defender Michael Keane, flying into a challenge on Jeremy Doku.
Paul Howard, the VAR, stayed out of all three decisions and left them with the on-field call of referee Michael Oliver.
Everton have prior experience with controversial offside calls, too. In April last year, Liverpool’s Luis Diaz was standing offside behind James Tarkowski as the centre-back attempted to intercept a loose ball. It resulted in Diogo Jota scoring the winning goal for Arne Slot’s team.
Some take issue with this rule because, as in those two cases, it can inadvertently disadvantage defenders.