Referees' chief Howard Webb has acknowledged that Nathan Ake's goal for Manchester City against Fulham on Saturday should have been disallowed.
Towards the end of the first half of the Premier League fixture at the Etihad Stadium, Ake sent a header form by the penalty spot into the far corner of the net.
However, at the time, it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that it would be disallowed, a consequence of Manuel Akanji standing in an offside position and in the eyeline of goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Instead, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was allowed to stand, much to the frustration of Fulham head coach Marco Silva.
The controversial decision featured on the first episode of 'Match Officials: Mic'd Up', which aired on Tuesday and revealed conversations held between the respective officials.
© Reuters
After referee Michael Oliver had given the goal, VAR official Tony Harrington said: "Checking the goal, checking the goal. He's [Akanji] definitely in an offside position. Has he made an obvious action to impact on the ability of the goalkeeper? He's moving out of the way of the ball."
His VAR assistant Adam Nunn added: "In my opinion he makes a full-length save. For me it's subjective, there's potential impact on the keeper, but does it clearly impact the keeper? I think the keeper sees the ball the whole way."
The decision to award a goal remained, Man City going on to win the game by a 5-1 scoreline, but Webb has acknowledged that Fulham had been wrongly penalised.
Webb said: "These are not always easy to call because you're trying to get two pieces of information together - is the player offside, and then the consequence of being in that position.
© Reuters
"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on Leno the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate.
"We think it's a clear situation of offside, unfortunately it wasn't identified on the day. This was an error."
Among the other decisions discussed was the call to not award Wolverhampton Wanderers a penalty during the final seconds of their fixture at Manchester United on August 14.
Like in the case of Ake's goal, Webb acknowledged that a clear error had been made, claiming that the VAR team had 'overthought' the decision.
No Data Analysis info
