Delay in ruling out Man City goal at Newcastle due to lack of offside technology

The delay in ruling out a Manchester City goal for offside in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win at Newcastle was extended because semi-automated offside technology could not be used in the incident.

It took more than five minutes for a check to determine that Erling Haaland was offside and had interfered with play by holding defender Malick Thiaw, with referee Chris Kavanagh disallowing what would have been a second goal of the night for City’s new signing Antoine Semenyo.

The Press Association news agency understands the check would have been significantly quicker if semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) had been available, but the number of bodies in the box at the time of the incident meant it could not be used.

Officials instead had to revert to the old system of drawing crosshairs because of the number of bodies in the box. The Premier League website refers to such incidents where SAOT cannot be used as “edge cases”.

The length of the delay drew widespread criticism on social media, but was certainly not the norm, with the average delay for VAR checks overall standing at under 50 seconds per match for the last two seasons.

The decision of VAR Stuart Attwell to intervene and refer Kavanagh to the pitchside monitor for what he felt was interference by Haaland has also been criticised, because it did not appear to be clear and obvious.

PA understands the Premier League has the lowest intervention rate in any major European league or competition – averaging out at once every four matches, underlining that Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) does not advocate for forensic examinations of incidents by VARs.

City manager Pep Guardiola criticised what he saw as inconsistencies around VAR after the match, with Newcastle’s winner against City in the league in November only confirmed after a lengthy offside check.

He also questioned why City had not been awarded two penalties in that match, one in the 20th minute for what he felt was a handball and one for a foul on Phil Foden on the hour.

The Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel which reviews such decisions felt a penalty should have been awarded for the challenge on Foden.

Guardiola said Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer at PGMOL would call him for an “explanation” regarding the Haaland goal, but there was no immediate word from either PGMOL or City regarding any contact.

Webb has proactively contacted clubs in the past where clear errors have been made, but that does not appear to be the case here.

Marginal offsides like this could reduce significantly if the offside law is updated.

Concerns are understood to have been raised around changing the law so that a player is onside if any part of his body that can score is level with the second-last defender, the so-called “daylight” offside rule, both around how it could be applied at all levels of the game and also whether it could provide attackers too much of an advantage and encourage defences to drop deeper.

The “daylight” offside law is being trialled and may continue to be, but PA understands trials of a modified version – where an attacker would be onside if any part of their torso was level with the second-last defender – could be approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which sets football’s laws at its annual general meeting in Wales next month.