by RoyalBlue »
01 Apr 2012 12:14
We actually have far more reason to moan about the officials' application of offside although it didn't cost us a goal because our defenders carried on defending and didn't stop dead in their tracks.
In the first half a diagonal ball was played from their right to left into space behind our defence . The West Ham player in the centre, who was clearly offside, ran towards the ball taking a covering defender with him. However, because as he had his hands up in the air as he ran forward, and then left the ball to the player on his left, the officials decided he wasn't active!!
Fair enough when a forward runs back towards his own goal with his hands up he isn't normally deemed to be offside but since when did the hands up exemption apply to running towards the opponents goal?!