Premier League Breaks Silence on Controversial Liverpool Goal

Liverpool barely squeaked past newly promoted AFC Bournemouth on Monday night and they only did it on the back of a controversial goal from Reds striker Christian Benteke that should have been ruled out for offside under the new rules — something that the Premier League has finally acknowledged by writing to all 20-clubs to clarify changes to the rule.

“The Premier League has this week written to its clubs to clarify the new interpretation of the offside law decided by the International Football Association Board this summer,” read a statement from the governing body. “Professional Game Match Officials Limited issued this guidance in order to clear up any misunderstandings that arose following the goal awarded to Liverpool in their Monday night match against AFC Bournemouth,” it continued. “The Premier League does not generally comment on decisions made by match officials. However, given the recent change to the interpretation of the offside law and the fact that it was made close to the start of the season, the league felt it was appropriate, in this instance, to publish in order to inform fans and other stakeholders.”

Although it’s impossible to predict just how the match would have turned out had the Belgian’s goal — his first competitive one for the Reds since joining from Aston Villa in July — been called back, but what’s not in contention is the Cherries right to feel hard done by. Boss Eddie Howe, who made little fuss on the sidelines considering the circumstances, wrote to referees’ chief Mike Riley seeking clarification on the decision to allow the goal, but their response comes with really no benefit to a side that have yet to earn themselves a point since winning promotion to the top-flight back in May.

“I am pleased they reviewed it and congratulate them on admitting the decision was wrong,” he told the Daily ECHO on the back of the announcement. “As I said at the time, I didn’t have the best view at ground level but I just knew there was something not quite right about the goal and so it proved when I saw it again. There is so much at stake in every game and these things can sometimes define seasons,” explained the Bournemouth boss. “It took an instant for the footballing world to realise this decision was incorrect so perhaps video technology can be the way forward but this would be a huge change to the game we know and love. With the money now at stake at the top level, it is something I am sure will be revisited time and again.”

4 thoughts on “Premier League Breaks Silence on Controversial Liverpool Goal

  • August 22, 2015 at 4:23 am
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    Seriously… there’s been way too much said on this so-called offside goal. Referees make plenty of mistakes and will continue to do so. How many games were decided by poor decisions over the years.

    Move on.. there’s another 36 games to play with plenty of opportunities for referees to stuff up!!!

  • August 22, 2015 at 8:36 am
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    I take it your a Liverpool fan that feels just a little uncomfortable that you could barely scrape a win but for 2 dubious decisions and would rather the football world swept it under the carpet and moved on. For cherries those points could be the difference between relegation and survival

  • August 22, 2015 at 9:48 am
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    We were complacent about performances and luck at the start of last season and look how that turned out. Sleepwalking into failure whilst patting our own backs over flawed victories. Repeat and rewind, repeat and rewind.

  • August 22, 2015 at 10:09 pm
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    The first part you got right, but if we’d rather have it swept under the carpet, why would we even talk about it? This isn’t the BBC – we don’t have to report on anything we don’t want to.

    I think in every single article that’s been written since then it’s been mentioned and pointed out in one way or another that the goal shouldn’t have stood.

    That being said, referees make mistakes and they negatively impact other teams; until the football world embraces video technology this is going to continue to happen. You’ve got a few more games to sort out your season where odds are you’re going to get a dubious call or two go your way – hopefully this isn’t the make or break.

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