It was a comfortable win for Liverpool this evening against West Ham at Anfield, with the Reds prevailing 4-0. However, their victory was helped ever so slightly by the linesman on the day, as Sadio Mane's second goal and Liverpool's third was allowed to stand even though the forward was clearly in an offside position.
Liverpool were in cruise control coming into the 53rd minute when Roberto Firmino got the ball around 30 yards from goal. The Brazilian drove forward with the ball before slipping the ball between two West Ham defenders to Mane. The only problem was, Mane was clearly offside, and by the looks of the footage, the linesman had a pretty good view of the incident.
In any case Mane fired home to give Liverpool a three goal cushion and wipe away any doubt of a West Ham comeback. But the error had people again calling for the introduction of VAR into the Premier League.
Mane’s second goal was so far offside that it was offensive. Well, I guess at least one fan base will change their mind today about VAR.
— The Goat (@AlwaysAndOne) August 12, 2018
Remarkable how the Sky commentators paid so little attention to the fact that Mane was miles offside for the 3rd goal. Never mind VAR, how about the officials actually do their jobs properly? #LIVvWHU
— PRT (@PaulRoseTroup) August 12, 2018
Was the ref sitting in our stadium for Mane's goal? About 3 yards offside! Same old shit bring in VAR!
— Lee Hall (@lwhwhufc) August 12, 2018
3-0 to Liverpool. Wonder what the linesman was doing not flagging for offside there. #LIVWHU
— PremierleagueFansNG (@EplFansNgr) August 12, 2018
No VAR in #EPL ? Offside goal from Mane makes it 3-0 against West ham. #LIVWHU
— Youssef (@OfficialUssef) August 12, 2018
Mile offside. Official should have seen that. This is why we need VAR, been a few decisions so far already this season that would have been put right. #LIVWHU
— lihP (@pdjm99) August 12, 2018
I'm happy for Mane but that goal was comically offside! VAR anyone? #VAR #bbcfootball #PremierLeague #LIVWHU
— Henry DiStasio (@Henry_DiStasio) August 12, 2018
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher also weighed in on the decision, stating that the way Pellegrini organises his defence is part of the problem for West Ham:
The @LFC third goal was offside but holding that line on the edge of the box is going to cause problems all season I fear for West Ham! #LIVWHU #SkySports
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) August 12, 2018
