LOL, I'm not sure you can ask a CAR to not watch the game. One thing to say that to neutral assistants, but you can't expect a CAR to concentrate just on the second last defender and his credible area and not watch the game. If his team is attacking he will be looking down the other end of the pitch and all interest in his defensive line will have gone ..!
As Padfoot has said, the key thing is to suss out early how good they are. Get as close to level as you can for the first few offsides, and you'll quickly see how level they are and whether they are waiting to see who touches the ball before raising the flag. If they are putting the flag up as soon as a long ball is kicked, and we've all seen this happen, you know you are likely going to need to overrule them. Whereas if they are waiting, and you can see they are making an effort to stay in line, you know that they are more likely to be taking it seriously.
For throw ins all I'm interested in is whether the ball crossed the line or not. They can indicate direction if they like but ultimately I'm making that decision. Offside and throw-ins are two very different things. For offside it is often IMPOSSIBLE for the referee to judge on this, as he is likely to have been facing away from the defensive line as the ball was played, and a large number of offside decisions will be a total guess if the referee is on his own. In the time it takes you to spin round a player who was offside a fraction of a second earlier may now be onside, and vice versa. So if you have someone on the sideline who can credibly help that may be of benefit.
For throw-in direction you will almost always be looking at play when it goes out, so you shouldn't need help from a CAR as to what the direction should be. Where you might need help is whether the ball went out or not, as even if you are 10 yards from the line it can be impossible to tell, especially when the ball is in the air.
Free kicks and any kind of misconduct are an absolutely no no for CARs, that would just open up a whole new can or worms.