If that's the case then I'll go back to one of my previous points that if it's going to take that long then it's not upto scratch. I know I've said this before but I'll never consider waiting three and a half minutes acceptable. Well done Hammers.
It only needed the one line. Antonio's entire head was offside. But they still went through the whole procedure of getting both lines in place etc. Unnecessary. It could have been called offside long before it was. (Potentially the very edge of Soucek's knee was also offside, and that certainty wasn't clear just from the drawing of the initial line. But given Antonio was beyond him, there was no need to place any focus on the knee too.)
The rule is 'a player is offside if they are obstructing the keepers vision' apparently. Kepa could see the ball easily, and as collins just said - Atonio was actually helping the goalkeeper out .
Having just seen it, isn't this an example of an offside decision being subjective rather than factual? Time they did away with this 'interfering with play' nonsense. Offside is offside, and I've always felt that if you're on the pitch then you're interfering with play in some way or another.
Bill Shankley: "If a player isn't interfering with play, what are they doing on the pitch?" Brian Clough: "If one of my players isn't interfering with play, they shouldn't be getting paid!" I'm slightly paraphrasing both quotes. Antonio's head is beyond the last defender. He has his body in between the ball on one side, and the defender and keeper on the other. It's clear cut for me.
Anyway. The important thing is that now var is here we're discussing the football rather than the officiating.
