RoyalBlueNameless2 world wars, 1 world cup
Cheers SCIAG. But now I think it should not have been given. Bear with me please....
I haven't rewatched it since your reply but I guess for me the confusion is whether or not Fred is fouling by being in an offside position and clearly looking to accept the ball (which he then did), and so clearly interfering in play. As you know, offside is given even before, or even without recipients touching the ball, which is why this is so confusing and interesting. So the *moment* Mata touches the ball that whole snapshot of a situation i.e. Mata has touched the ball with the intention for it to get to Fred, who is clearly interfering in play just by being where he is, in the offside triangle, and clearly with the intention of touching the ball, so that snapshot of a situation is a foul whether or not Fred touches the ball... in that moment a foul has occurred. It is THEN that Richards floors Mata.
So really, it should not have been given, arguably.
And this makes more sense because one could argue that RIchards, in that split second of a stressful scenario saw that Fred was in a dangerous position, saw that Mata was just about to pass to him, and - credit to the lad who after Swansea I argued shouldn't wear a Reading shirt again! - therefore having the presence of mind and foresight to see what was going on had little option but to risk a foul by doing everything he could to prevent that. Good man! Actually in my mind a brilliant move and I forgive the young lad for his Swansea lapses. So yeah Fred was clearly interfering in play by causing this confusion in the receiving position he was in. To put it more simply... I'm not sure subconsciously Richards would have gone in if Fred wasn't where he was. His offside foul positioning clearly interfered in play and lead to the foul tackle.
Interesting....
Why are you saying being offside is a foul ? That’s just nonsense !
Most of the rest of your analysis is just crazy.
The officialsgot it right and trying to rewrite the offside law whilst seemingly under the influence of mind altering substances isn’tgoing to change that.
Only other highly experienced and respected officials disagree that they got it right. OK, he's been retired some time now but Keith Hackett says the Assistant Reg got it right at the outset and Moss was wrong to interfere.
Upson spoke a lot of sense on MOTD when he stated that he felt Lukaku was interfering with play in that he moved to partially obstruct Richards making it difficult for him to get his tackle in and thus conceding the penalty. OK Upson is speaking as a defender and former Royal but nevertheless it does look a bit like that.
Interesting.