Russell Martin Southampton Brighton
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Keith Hackett
Sat 30 November 2024 14:10, UK
Keith Hackett fears the “hybrid” system being used by PGMOL to decide offside decisions isn’t working properly after the offside controversy in the 1-1 draw between Southampton and Brighton.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee exclusively told Football Insider that fans are being left “bemused” by long waiting times on “subjective” after a late winner was ruled out at the Amex on 29 November.
Having trailed 1-0 at half-time in that match, the Saints levelled through Flynn Downes on the hour-mark.
Russell Martin’s side then thought they had completed the turnaround seven minutes later, when Cameron Archer fired in from a ball across the face of goal.
However, that goal was eventually ruled out by VAR for an offside against Adam Armstrong in the build-up, something which caused a great deal of frustration among those connected with Southampton.
Now, Hackett has given his verdict of the incident, and what it may mean for fans moving forward.
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Although Armstrong did not touch the ball when he was deemed to be offside, VAR did rule that he had interfered with Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball.
It was a decision that took almost four and a half minutes to come to, and ultimately denied Southampton what would have been a big three points in the battle to avoid relegation.
Southampton
Russell Martin saw his Southampton side miss out on three points against Brighton.
Speaking about what happened, Hackett told Football Insider: “It took close to five minutes in the VAR room at Stockley Park to rule out a Southampton goal. The Southampton player who scored the ‘goal’ that was ruled out had come from an onside position.
“The problem was a forward of Southampton who was in an offside position and made a deliberate play of the ball. It was this player to be ruled offside, a clear subjective decision.
“The PGMOL promised to introduce the semi-automated offside system that was used in the UEFA Championships and the World Cup. Using its own high speed cameras and a Chip in the Adidas ball the offside decisions reduced the delay in decisions by some 13 seconds on average.
“The PGMOL appear to be working on a hybrid system using Apple Cameras and given that the Nike ball is used in the Premier League I wonder if that objective is also problematic.
“Taking close to five minutes leaves fans bemused and promotes doubt on situations that are so subjective.”
Following that result, Southampton remain bottom of the Premier League table, meaning the pressure is still on manager Martin.
In other news, Tottenham and Man United’s interest in a Southampton star has been revealed.
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