<
>

Liverpool vs. Bournemouth 'offside goal' officials avoid being stood down

Referee Craig Pawson and assistant Harry Lennard will not be stood down from duty this weekend despite allowing an offside goal to decide Liverpool's victory over Bournemouth.

The officials failed to spot that Philippe Coutinho was in an offside position when Christian Benteke scored the only goal in the 1-0 win at Anfield on Monday night.

However, a spokesman for Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) told the Daily Telegraph that the pair would keep their scheduled matches this weekend, with Pawson to take charge of Manchester United's meeting with Newcastle and Lennard on duty for Everton's game with Manchester City.

Pawson and Lennard received widespread criticism for their failure to implement the current offside rule, which was amended by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) this summer.

Premier League referees' chief Mike Riley told Sky Sports News earlier this month: "Previously, for a player to be in an offside position and be penalised, they would have to touch the ball or play the ball.

"The IFAB has clarified this. They now say to be considered to be offside the player has to make a clear attempt to play the ball, be close to the ball and have an impact on the opponent, or to make an obvious action to have an impact of the opponent."

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe said after Monday's game, which also saw a Tommy Elphick goal controversially ruled out at the other end, that he wanted the officials to explain their decisions.

"It is a clear offside under the new rules," he said. "We were sat down by the referees and told about the new rules. Our goalkeeper [Artur Boruc] is clearly impacted by the player [Coutinho] in the middle of the goal.

"If that is not offside, it is the clearest example you will see. I don't think that is a tough one. It is a yard and a half [offside] and clearly impacting. I would like some feedback on both decisions."

Bournemouth captain Elphick told the Daily Echo he was "100 percent" certain his goal should have stood, and he said it was clear that Benteke's should have been ruled out.

"We were briefed so much over the summer about the new rules and it was a classic case of that," Elphick said. "We pride ourselves on our backline and as soon as that ball was played, we stepped out in unison to leave Coutinho offside.

"The minute he went for the ball, it killed the big man [Boruc] because he had to react to what was in front of him.

"Again, it was a tough one for the assistant because it happened so quickly but it was hard to take because we work on these things to put them into practice. The rule should work for defenders but didn't.

"A few of the lads asked [the referee] about the second one but he didn't really seem to understand what we were saying. I am sure he would have an explanation if he was asked in the cold light of day but, unfortunately, we don't get those privileges.

"We were gutted not to take anything from the past two games because we felt like our performances deserved more."