VAR Review: Explaining the Guest posting in Liverpool vs. Wolves
In the third round of the FA Cup at Anfield, Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers drew 2-2, but there were two contentious offside calls. This is what took place.
Goal disallowed: Nunes offside on Toti goal
Nunes was deemed to be offside when Toti scored.
What happened: Toti thought he had given Wolves the lead in the 81st minute, but the assistant raised Guest posting for offside.
VAR ruling: Offside is upheld.
VAR evaluation Given that there was no offside in the play immediately prior to Toti's goal, this judgement baffled the majority of spectators. Why then did the flag fly?
Matheus Nunes took a corner to start the play. Hwang Hee-final Chan's offensive touch after the delivery into the box initiates the offside period. The next player to touch the ball was Nunes. When the goal was scored, the assistant raised the flag after delaying it because he believed Nunes was a running back in an offside position.
Hwang's backward header of the ball is unimportant in determining whether it was onside. The phase is not restarted by Thiago's attempted clearance.
However, there were no offside-calibrated cameras that could show where Nunes and the final defender were when Hwang headed the ball. There was only one uncalibrated high tactical camera that captured both players guest posting, and there was insufficient concrete evidence to reverse the on-field ruling.
This wouldn't occur with semi-automated offside technology, where every player is monitored.
Unfortunately for Wolves, not even the pictures that are being circulated on social media provide any proof that Nunes was cooperating—not that the VAR would have had access to them anyhow.
But the incomprehensibility for everyone watching highlights the issues with communication and VAR.
Similar circumstances occurred earlier this season when Gabriel Martinelli's goal for Arsenal against Liverpool had to stand because the VAR was unable to utilise a calibrated camera to determine whether Bukayo Saka was in an offside position.
The worst instance occurred in Serie A in September when a Salernitana defender was playing everyone onside by the corner flag but the VAR was unable to spot him on the available videos. Juventus had an injury-time winner disallowed by the VAR for an offside on a corner procedure. In this case, the VAR improperly intervened in the match to overturn a good judgement guest posting, costing Juve two points.
Possible offside: Salah when scoring
When Cody Gakpo attempted to find Mohamed Salah with a ball over the top in the 52nd minute, Liverpool seized the lead. Salah scored after Toti attempted to clear the ball with a header but failed. But was there really a need for an offside?
VAR ruling: Goal is upheld.
VAR review: It's a contentious choice that gets to the heart of what constitutes a defender's "deliberate guest posting play." Salah is undoubtedly in an offside position, but if the referee determines that Toti's actions were a "deliberate play," Salah will not be penalised or considered to be offside.
In other words, only when a defender has control over where the ball goes can it be considered a "deliberate play." Numerous elements are considered, and an attempted header is viewed more favourably by the defence than a kick. This is due to the fact that heading a ball typically requires less control.
A further indicator that it's not a "planned play" is if the defender must stretch out or jump to head the ball.
Dean made the decision to abstain from interfering with the goal's approval on the field. However, similar situations where a goal is disallowed are probably going to occur.
Offside is a highly debatable concept, thus Wolves can feel themselves quite unlucky to have also given up this guest posting goal.
