That Linesman

[Guest WestburyRed]

Was sat dead in line with the majority of those second half offside decisions today, absolutely unbelievable!

Fair play Peacock and Miller were both caught (just) once at first, but after that it decended into a bloody comedy of errors.

There was the blatant disregard of the newly enforced "interfering with play" rule, I think Peacock was a fair bit offside twice but the ball went nowhere near him, but the idiot still flagged him.

The one that really got on my tits though was when the ball was cleared, a City player blocked it and the ball went clear for Miller, when the ball actually come off the City player Miller was a good 5-10 yards onside, it was absolutely ridiculous.

After that most of us around where I was sat (Williams K) watched the linesman quite carefully, it quickly became apparent that he was always a good 10 yards off the pace from the last defender, and was therefore giving decisions from an akward diagonal position when he quite clearly could not say for sure if there was an offence or not (and in that case benefit of doubt has to go to the forward I believe)

If FIFA want to enforce new regulations or whatever they need to consider all levels of football. If the majority of Prem officials still manage to mess up on a regular basis how are the lower league ones suppose to manage?

I have nothing against the men in black but if FIFA want to keep completely updating and amending the rules they need to find ways of helping the officials deal with them, first phase, second phase and all this rubbish, its ridiculous. Or the obvious alternative would be to get the game back to basics, sadly that doesn't seem like it will happen.

[Richy P]

i was sat in the same block as you and can't agree more with you. It was fair that peacock was offside in the first decision but the way the linesman conducted himself was awful for the rest of the game. The guy just didn't seem to have a clue. I feel this new rule has just confused referees and linesman. I feel referees and linesman do most of the time get undeserved stick but today i can offer little defense on his behalf. Every through ball near enough on the break from the right wing through wilkshire or roberts was flagged and he must have great eyesight cos i'm sat just along from the opposition dugout and he made the decision from the home dugout. Football would not run without the referees and linesman however unless something is changed to be fair for both teams and the officials then there will be many more situations like this.

[England]

just to add a slight query to the referees assistant debate - I and my good friend had a distinct impression that "he" wasn't and in fact was a she who we referred to as Doris

[Dorset_Cider]

just to add a slight query to the referees assistant debate - I and my good friend had a distinct impression that "he" wasn't and in fact was a she who we referred to as Doris

AKA...........Nora Batty as in blind as a Nora Batty?

Or for those in the know Batty Boy!

[Dave L]

I was right in line with those decisions and some of them beggared belief. And what was even weirder was that I thought Lita *wa###### offside when Robbo put him in for the 3rd goal.

[Keepers Ball]

He was a complete t****r !

The thing is,this rule change (for the umpteenth time) is going to cause confusion,havoc and major inconsistency.

Ive just watched the Wolves and Arsenal game on ITV.Thierry Henry was in a similar position to Peacock.He was a good 2-3 yards infront of defenders.He calmly walked back onside recieved the ball and scored !

During the post match interview with an annoyed Dave Jones the interviewer pointed out it WAS a new FIFA rule.As far as Jones thought it was a #### rule !

This is going to cause major problems

[NATCHER]

And what was even weirder was that I thought Lita *wa######  offside when Robbo put him in for the 3rd goal.

Have you changed your mind after seeing it on television. Lita did well to check his run, the pass, when it came was well weighted and the flag rightly stayed down.

Ah well, just watch some episodes of Eastenders. That'll prove we all make mistakes:D

[RedUn]

I was right in line with those decisions and some of them beggared belief. And what was even weirder was that I thought Lita *wa######  offside when Robbo put him in for the 3rd goal.

I think by the time the invective he justly received for his third consecutive cock-up had died down, Mr Williams' legs had turned to jelly and he wouldn't have dared raise the flag again! Just goes to show the effect the crowd can have.