Aston Villa ace Morgan Rogers’ disallowed goal highlighted the need for a semi-automated offside system in the Premier League, according to Keith Hackett.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that he will continue to “to doubt the accuracy” of tight VAR calls until a semi-automated system is in place.
Villa had been struggling in the Premier League recently, having won only one game since the 18th January, as they compete on three fronts.
Arsenal target Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the 49th minute, after Mark Flekken allowed a shot to slip between his legs.
Just two minutes later, Rogers looked to have doubled Villa’s lead, only for the goal to be disallowed, thanks to an offside call made by a matter of inches.
Morgan Rogers denied goal for Aston Villa by VAR
In the 51st minute, Jacob Ramsey took off on a trademark run, breezing by Brentford defenders, before sliding a pass through the back-line.
The ball picked out Watkins, who showed a burst of pace to break through, before cutting back inside.
Arriving late in the box, as he has made a habit of doing, Rogers hit an effort that clipped off Flekken’s leg, before finding the back of the net.
The England international wheeled away to celebrate what would have been his eighth goal of the season, before VAR caused a lengthy delay, and ruled out the goal.
With lines being drawn on the image, as is customary, Watkins appeared to be offside by a matter of half of his foot.
However, these decisions are especially contentious, given the limited frame-rate of the broadcast cameras.
It is also not the first time Villa have had a tight offside call go against them recently, with Watkins’ equaliser against Crystal Palace also being denied.
Ex-PGMOL chief calls for semi-automated offside system
Speaking to Football Insider exclusively about the decision, Hackett explained the law surrounding an incident like Rogers’, but also why he will doubt the validity of VAR in its current state, saying:
“Since the introduction of VAR, we have seen many goals ruled out for these tight offside decisions.
“That is the law, providing the player is active and committing any of the three offences: interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate, or interfering with an opponent by:
Preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision, challenging an opponent for the ball, clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent, or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
Or, gaining an advantage by playing the ball or interfering with an opponent when it has, rebounded or been deflected off the goalpost, crossbar, match official or an opponent, or been deliberately saved by any opponent.
“Frankly, my view is that the technology to determine these positions [is not good enough], bearing in mind that the semi-automated offside system is not in use in the Premier League, then they are relying on broadcast speed cameras which operate at 25 Frames per second against, for example, the high speed cameras used for goal line technology (500) frames per second.
Until I see the use of the semi-automated offside system, I will continue to doubt the accuracy of these tight offside calls.
“I would like the law to be changed to give the benefit of doubt to the attacking player.”
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