Last nights linesman in the Beehole end half

[Westleigh]

Did anyone cop the linesman in front of The Bob Lord stand last night?, the first 3 or 4 offsides he didn’t raise his flag until play had stopped and got some real abuse ,after that he started raising his flag as soon as a Luton player got the ball ,just watching Geordies v City and goalkeeper gets injured because the linesman didn’t flag straight away.

[South West Claret.]

Why they have all of a sudden held up putting the flag up seems ridiculous for an offside to me.

[Wokingclaret]

cause they leave it for VAR

[Stayingup]

Did anyone cop the linesman in front of The Bob Lord stand last night?, the first 3 or 4 offsides he didn’t raise his flag until play had stopped and got some real abuse ,after that he started raising his flag as soon as a Luton player got the ball ,just watching Geordies v City and goalkeeper gets injured because the linesman didn’t flag straight away.

Yes this practice could well cause injuries. Another absurdity like VAR.

[South West Claret.]

Yes but it just seems such an unnecessary chance to me.

[Westleigh]

Why they have all of a sudden held up putting the flag up seems ridiculous for an offside to me.

I can understand it if it’s very tight because the attacker might put the ball in the net and he isn’t offside ,it’s a bit like an umpire looking to the fourth umpire when a guy is obviously run out ,just a case of them abdicating their responsibility,he didn’t put his flag up several times when it was a bit tight for a throw but waited for the ref,and he was one of the more experienced officials.

[Tricky Trevor]

That was Darren Cann, wasn’t it?
He’s the best lino out there.
Personally I agree with keeping the flag down for tight calls, you wouldn’t want a goal ruling out if it turned out they were on. The chance of injury is so minuscule it’s not worth worrying about it.
Far too often they don’t raise the flag for obvious offsides, this is what needs sorting.

[Nori1958]

That was Darren Cann, wasn’t it?
He’s the best lino out there.
Personally I agree with keeping the flag down for tight calls, you wouldn’t want a goal ruling out if it turned out they were on. The chance of injury is so minuscule it’s not worth worrying about it.
Far too often they don’t raise the flag for obvious offsides, this is what needs sorting.

And yet less than 24hrs later a player is injured

[dougcollins]

It's meant to be in marginal cases only keep the flag down, so a 'good' goal isn't inadvertently ruled out.

The lino last night wasn't flagging when the attacking player was two or three yards off.

I think they need to re-read the email.

[Westleigh]

Another linesman keeping his flag down with 2 Newcastle players at least 2 yds offside

[Darthlaw]

VAR means linesmen are pretty much redundant for offside now as they know VAR will make the call for them.

Similarly the ref left the call for Luton’s goal t be made elsewhere.

[dsr]

They have made it impossible for the linesman to judge offside, so naturally the next step is to tell the linesman to leave it to VAR when it's close. If they went back to the old application of the law, the "level is onside " law, there would be no need for the linesman to hesitate.

[wilks_bfc]

Yes this practice could well cause injuries. Another absurdity like VAR.

It does cause injuries

This is what happened to John Stones the other week and has again happend tonight with Ederson

[dougcollins]

They have made it impossible for the linesman to judge offside, so naturally the next step is to tell the linesman to leave it to VAR when it's close. If they went back to the old application of the law, the "level is onside " law, there would be no need for the linesman to hesitate.

I realise that the linos are completely paranoid and are scared rigid to get it wrong, but some of those last night were just taking the p!ss. We've got a forward at least three yards offside and the game continues another twenty seconds.

Watch it all change now Ederson has been crocked tonight in a similar circumstance.

[wilks_bfc]

Also the one on the other side wasn’t much better.
Delaying signalling when the ball went out for a throw in and completely missing one altogether during the second half

[RammyClaret61]

Just another instance were the laws of the game have been changed to facilitate VAR.

[Elizabeth]

VAR means linesmen are pretty much redundant for offside now as they know VAR will make the call for them.

Similarly the ref left the call for Luton’s goal t be made elsewhere.

That was not the case

[Darthlaw]

That was not the case

Appreciate the convincing argument but you know this for sure?

Psychologically the ref knows he has a safety net of VAR behind him so it’s easier to let a contentious decision go and let folk elsewhere figure it out. More so when refs know decisions with ‘smaller teams’ get less scrutiny in the media, if they make a stuff up (Berge’s ‘handball’ against Forrest) it largely goes unnoticed anyway.

Easiest solution is mic up the ref (like rugby) and you can hear the convo live. Then again, that’s useful technology so will be disregarded by football.

[Cheshireclaret]

VAR means linesmen are pretty much redundant for offside now as they know VAR will make the call for them.

Similarly the ref left the call for Luton’s goal t be made elsewhere.

I’d agree with this. He didn’t point to the centre spot or indicate anything when Luton scored. It was bizarre, and looked exactly as you said - that he wanted someone else to make the decision for him.

[JohnMac]

VAR means linesmen are pretty much redundant for offside now as they know VAR will make the call for them.

Similarly the ref left the call for Luton’s goal t be made elsewhere.

I thought he awarded the goal meaning VAR ratified his decision. Had he have given a foul then I'm sure VAR would have supported him with that too.

[Claretitus]

[quote=dsr post_id=2257816 time=<a href="tel:1705170394">1705170394</a> user_id=510]
They have made it impossible for the linesman to judge offside, so naturally the next step is to tell the linesman to leave it to VAR when it's close. If they went back to the old application of the law, the "level is onside " law, there would be no need for the linesman to hesitate.

I realise that the linos are completely paranoid and are scared rigid to get it wrong, but some of those last night were just taking the p!ss. We've got a forward at least three yards offside and the game continues another twenty seconds.

Watch it all change now Ederson has been crocked tonight in a similar circumstance.
[/quote]

It’s not the first time it’s happened to City this season. Everton away, John Stones got injured chasing back when the forward was clearly offside. The Lino flagged later, which is now the norm,he had to go off, and is now missing games. Absurd.

[IWOODLOVETT]

I think that this has caused and will continue to cause significant injuries because both forwards and defenders (inc. keeper) will make desperate “lunges”/tackles in a 50/50 situation.
Also what happens if the chasing defender chops down the forward in a one-on-one goal opportunity I.e. last defender. Red or offside/ no red ??

[Elizabeth]

Appreciate the convincing argument but you know this for sure?

Psychologically the ref knows he has a safety net of VAR behind him so it’s easier to let a contentious decision go and let folk elsewhere figure it out. More so when refs know decisions with ‘smaller teams’ get less scrutiny in the media, if they make a stuff up (Berge’s ‘handball’ against Forrest) it largely goes unnoticed anyway.

Easiest solution is mic up the ref (like rugby) and you can hear the convo live. Then again, that’s useful technology so will be disregarded by football.

As sure as you are that the ref decided to give the goal and leave it for VAR.

He could have disallowed the goal and decided to leave it for VAR.

I think the reality is likely to be that he didn't see it as a foul

[Joe14]

To be fair I was half hoping the linesman would take some of our throw in’s. Our players clearly don’t know what to do.

[Dark Cloud]

I think? the original idea re not flagging offsides straight away was in case a goal was scored and disallowed, which was then proved to be onside. I also think? that it was to allow play to carry on without unnecessary interruptions if the offside player simply loses the ball and possession reverts straight away to the opposition. However, laudable though this might be, in practice it's simply degenerated into a frustrating nonsense far too often. Play goes on for what seems like ages before some guy is suddenly flagged offside because he actually was offside a whole 2 minutes earlier, or the defending team gets possession and play carries on, but they're in a really difficult, tight spot and struggle to clear their lines when they should actually have had a free kick, or even worse, play carries on unnecessarily and somebody gets injured. It's just become stupid tbh.

[ClaretTony]

Why they have all of a sudden held up putting the flag up seems ridiculous for an offside to me.

If they flag and the referee blows then it cannot be reviewed by VAR should a goal be scored.

[South West Claret.]

If they flag and the referee blows then it cannot be reviewed by VAR should a goal be scored.

Ah I see thanks for clearing that up.