David Prutton showed his disappointment during a televised match when Everton’s James Tarkowski scored a goal which did not count against Wolves. After Toffees’ defender’s header was nullified for off-side because Orel Mangala had obstructed Mario Lemina, Prutton questioned the referee’s decision. Even after this event, on December 4th, Everton was thrashed 4-0 by Sean Dyche’s team at Goodison Park.
During the Premier League, Prutton, working as a Sky Sports pundit watched the call and pointed out that there were three other defenders on Tarkowski and that positioning of Lemina was inconsequential. He said that if an offside decisions can be regarded as biased then it therefore should be handled by the on-field referees not the VAR.
As it stands, this is true to the letter, and looking at the incident, the goal marked by Tarkowski seemed utterly credible – Prutton is flawed for a headline here Indeed, it looked as though Tarkowski won the header comfortably against the backdrop of other Wolves defenders. This thinking that Lemina marking Tarkowski contributed to the offside call made little sense of, especially concerning set-pieces’ circumstances.
Questions are likely to be asked over the fairness of its calls especially the “subjective offside” decision. If VAR failed to provide clear evidence to support the call of the initial foul, the goal should have been considered valid and this minimised pressure on officials to make what seems to be a U-turn regarding their initial decisions.
The disallowed goal might have changed the entire course of the match and that lead to rightful reason and anger from both Dyche and Everton. Such incidences thus raise the question on what constitutes foul in other such occurrences while keenly noting the need to perfect the same for better massive action by the officers.