The Ref Stop

Tough one this

The Ref Stop
Man City are very good at distracting defenders by deliberately/intelligently venturing into offside positions at key moments
I think it's an under-utilized tactic, albeit unfair on the defensive team
 
It's a complete no brainer, can't be offside. Any senior level assistant flagging for that would be looking at demotion at the end of the season, if not sooner.
 
As ever easy to say watching a clip of it but thats a routine call for a senior AR and one a fresh new enthusastic kid would get right.
I can imagine a battle weary game filler AR flagging but I would hope a referee would be switched on enough to wave it down

Thats not a hard call at the level in the clip.
 
cwyeary said:
The one at about 3:15 here is a little more interesting.

https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2018-08-11-columbus-crew-sc-vs-houston-dynamo/recap
Click to expand...
Good call by the assistant. You can see he was about to switch hands to flag it but realised there was no contact by PIOP so no interference with play. By the letter of the law there is no interference with an opponent either as his action has no impact.

Second goal LIV vs WHU on the weekend was another example of PIOP not impacting opponents. As pointed out above, you would expect all top flight ARs to get these correct without a fuss.
 
Big Cat said:
Man City are very good at distracting defenders by deliberately/intelligently venturing into offside positions at key moments
I think it's an under-utilized tactic, albeit unfair on the defensive team
Click to expand...

I don't think it's unfair - just an attacking version of an offside trap.
 
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