Joao Cancelo’s goal against West Brom involved an offside mistake claims Premier League

Joao Cancelo’s goal against West Brom involved an offside mistake claims Premier League
The offside flag is raised when Cancelo shoots

Manchester City defeated West Bromwich 5-0 in a one sided match to go top of the table. Goals from Gundogan, Cancelo, Sterling and Mahrez completed a rout at The Hawthorns.

Manchester City’s win was marred with controversy after another VAR offside error popped up in the match. The timing couldn’t have been eerier after the Premier League decided to look into the offside ruling that allowed Bernardo Silva to score a controversial goal against Aston Villa earlier in 2021.

Manchester City had a similar incident against Aston Villa earlier this season

Bernardo Silva was initially flagged offside by the assistant referee

Joao Cancelo’s first goal in the Premier League should not have stood.  The Premier League have accepted that the flag should not have been raised in the build up to Cancelo’s goal.

Cancelo scored City’s 2nd goal curling a left footed strike into the top corner from outside of the box. However, Bernardo Silva who cut the ball for Cancelo was deemed offside by the assistant referee.  Sian Massey-Ellis raised her flag against Bernardo when he received the ball on the right. The West Brom players seemed to a stop on seeing the flag but Cancelo drilled his effort on goal.

Following a VAR check after the goal, Silva as found to be onside and the goal stood. The goal was soon confirmed, to the derision of the West Brom players and bench.

Given the new VAR protocols, assistant referees are being advised to flag as late as possible in order to avoid confusing moments like these.

The officiating team got things spot on, so credit to them, but Allardyce will no doubt be fuming with the players who didn’t close down Cancelo as aggressively as they would have done otherwise.

There was confusion on the park but the players need to cop blame for the goal as well. Players are always taught to play to the whistle and to the officials’ credit the referee did not blow the whistle before. The West Brom players simply assumed the offside and did not close down Cancelo.

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