Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has delivered his verdict on two key incidents in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Fulham on Sunday.
Cottagers striker Aleksandar Mitrovic saw a goal very marginally disallowed for offside, while there were protests after Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson appeared to take a free kick while the ball was moving in the build up to Mohamed Salah’s opener.
Now, Clattenburg has given his thoughts: “A part of the body that can score a goal only needs to be in an offside position and in this case, Aleksandar Mitrovic is marginally off,” he wrote for the Mail.
“However, when Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson takes the free-kick, the ball is moving and therefore it is illegal. A retake should have been given by referee Paul Tierney. Instead, play was allowed to carry on and Fulham were punished.”
OPINION
Clattenburg seems pretty spot on here and, let’s face it, he knows a hell of a lot more about the letter of the law in football than any of us. Mitrovic was just, just offside for Fulham’s disallowed goal. The big Serbian’s shoulder was offside and, seeing as you can score a goal with your shoulder, the former Newcastle United man was offside as well. Liverpool were consequently awarded a free kick but Alisson, seeing a counter-attack forming, rushed to take it before the ball had stopped moving. The rules state that the ball must be completely static before dead balls can be taken, meaning that Liverpool’s goal shouldn’t have counted. That’s what Clattenburg is saying and he’s absolutely right. Fulham have, on this occasion, been hard done by. Still, Salah finished the move off nicely and it was a very nice goal from a Liverpool perspective so there won’t be any protests coming from Merseyside.
