Oh dear... https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/8600967/new-tottenham-hotspur-stadium-delayed-over-corners/
Stolen this from another poster on the Newcastle Forum but it sums up how clearly terrible the challenge was:
Be interesting to see which Arsenal turn up today. Contrasting results mid-week for us and them but we have to go there expecting them to be at their best. No Lingard for us today so they’ll all be delighted with that news, although Martial and Matic have both travelled with the squad so we are better prepared than mid-week when we beat the PSG ladies team. I’m gonna go for a score draw 2-2 which will be celebrated like a CL win across the bottle -shaped bit of North London.
Not seen it but unsurprisingly they chose to complicate the rule a bit fairly recently so it’s onside if the defender played the ball intentionally or offside if it just hit him, which adds a fun layer of subjectivity.
Can you imagine the meltdown though from the Scousers if they lose the title due to a controversial goal? Given the luck they’ve had in spades this season, I think it’s a perfect way to conclude the season if City win 1-0 with a Sterling goal that is 30 yards offside.
VAR would have given us another 5 minutes of prevarication before the officials finally got it wrong anyway. So that’ll help.
Given the amount of tears I’ve seen on Twitter over anyone daring to suggest you shouldn’t have had the penalty midweek, the whole thing is going to make Matths of us all.
I'm sure somebody could upload a clip, but basically Aguero played the ball into Sterling who was 2 years offside. The defender reached to catch up with him and the ball deflected off him onto the shooting foot of Sterling who scored. So on a tenuous technicality, they ruled that the defender was the last person to touch the ball before Sterling scored, thereby ruling him onside. But the defender would never have been in that position and made the challenge if Sterling wasn't in an offside position in the first place. A bit like Kane against Arsenal last week, Mustafi fouled him, but only because he was racing to try and get ahead of him due to Kane being in an offside position. The rule on offside should be clear for me, if a player is in an offside position, then it's offside. Whether he tries to play the ball or not. The moment the lino sees an attacking player ahead of the last defender when the ball is played, he should raise his flag.
That was honestly one of the worst VAR pens I've seen awarded. The defender has turned his back, tried to pull his arm into his body and it's still given
So, you'd expect Watford fans to be up in arms if it was that bad. Me? I thought it was a fine goal and perfectly valid.
The defender was watching the ball all the way until just before contact, whilst he was turning his back. He knew what he was doing. His arm was out making himself bigger. Them's the rules the ref followed and the VAR decision was correct, confirmed by UEFA
