Did officials' flawed positioning lead to ruling out Van Dijk's goal?

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Get instant access with no contract📺That hitherto-unrealised distinction is clearly revealed in the audio transcript of the officials' debate carried in the programme:Assistant referee: "Robertson's in line of vision, right in front of the keeper. He's ducked under the ball.

I think he's [in] line of vision. I think he's (Donnarumma) been impacted, mate." Referee: "Ok, so offside then." Assistant referee: "I think offside." From that transcript it is plain not only is the assistant referee the instigator of the decision to rule out the goal but, from Kavanagh's passive reply, that the assistant referee is effectively chief decision maker.While this insight is important in achieving a full picture of what took place, it does though raise fresh doubts about the validity of the decision.

Image: The assistant referee is marked in the top right of the screenshot Image: The assistant referee ruled from his position by the corner flag that Liverpool's Andy Robertson was in the line of vision between Man City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk After all, simply put, the big picture of the incident laid out above shows that the assistant referee was singularly mispositioned to make such a call regarding the line of vision between City goalkeeper Donnarumma, Van Dijk and Robertson - with the obvious inference that if Robertson is in the line of vision then he would likely, if not decisively, impact the City goalkeeper.But the assistant referee, as captured above, is 90 degrees to the action.Kavanagh himself is far better placed to judge whether Robertson is in line of vision and impacting Donnarumma's actions. So, too, of course are the VARs, Oliver and Wood.But despite this flaw and uneven position, it is the assistant referee's immediate verdict - "Robertson's in line of vision" - that is, judging by the flow of communication between the four officials, the central, pivotal part of the decision taken.