Arsenal legend Ian Wright believes Liverpool’s opening goal in their 3-0 win over Aston Villa should have been disallowed for offside.
And the ex-England striker is expecting PGMOL chief Howard Webb will be forced to issue an apology to Villa over the goal. Dominik Szoboszlai gave Liverpool the lead after just three minutes with a half-volley from the edge of the box when Villa failed to clear a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner.
It was Szoboszlai’s first goal for the Reds since making the move to Anfield from RB Leipzig over the summer and it was checked by VAR before being awarded. However, Wright feels the goal should have been disallowed due to Mohamed Salah obstructing goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s view while in an offside position.
There is no doubt that Salah was offside when Szoboszlai took his shot, but evidently VAR did not believe he was obstructing Martinez’s view. Wright, however, disagrees and fumed on the Premier League’s Matchday Live show: “What we saw is that Mo Salah is obstructing Emi Martinez’s line of vision.
“So Howard Webb is probably going to have to make another phone call this week at some stage because that is offside, and that is interfering with Emi Martinez. I don’t understand any more.”
Wright later added on social media: “No time to talk about goals, quality play or key moments because all we discuss in the studio is VAR decisions. Boring. Just incident after incident. Taking the enjoyment out of the game.”
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel also felt the goal should have been disallowed, adding: “You can see very clearly that his [Martinez’s] view is hampered. When you face a shot like that, as a goalkeeper, two things, you want to be in the right line to give yourself a chance and you also want to attack the ball.
“But Mo Salah is right in his line of view, and in order to see the ball, he actually has to go to the other side of where the ball ends up to see him hit the ball, so he opens up that side of the goal. I really honestly don’t understand why it’s not interfering.”
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher, however, defended the decision. “Can the goalkeeper see the shot? Yes, I think he can,” he said. “Does Salah move towards the ball, or is he near or close to the ball? No.
“They feel the shot is going into the far corner and the goalkeeper can’t save the shot. This is the tactic they’ve used all season to interpret that law, and it was evident earlier in the season as we saw against Wolves and Brighton when [Pervis] Estupinan scored, [Danny] Welbeck was in an offside position, same thing happened, goal given.
“It’s how they interpret the law, it’s what they work to. The law said he has to impact the outcome of that decision and he has no impact, Salah, he’s not close enough to the ball. He’s far enough away from the goalkeeper and the goalkeeper has enough time to react as the ball is so far away from him.”
The incident came after Fulham were incensed that Nathan Ake’s header was allowed to stand in their defeat to Manchester City after Manuel Akanji clearly obstructed Bernd Leno’s view.