Hackett wants law change after Watkins VAR incident in Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Keith Hackett has called for a change to the law after a decision that went against Aston Villa in their defeat to Crystal Palace.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the attacking team should be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offside decisions.
Aston Villa produced an underwhelming performance as they were beaten 4-1 by Crystal Palace on Tuesday night (25 February), denting their hopes of securing a Champions League place.
There was however one key moment that went against them in a potentially costly manner, by the barest of margins.
Ollie Watkins ruled offside for potential equaliser
After the hosts had opened the scoring when Ismaila Sarr poked home from close range, Unai Emery’s side thought they had levelled through Morgan Rogers.
That came after Ollie Watkins latched on to a through ball before producing an excellent run to the byline, where he cleverly pulled it back to be fired home by Rogers.
| Aston Villa last five games | Result |
| Tottenham (H) | Won 2-1 |
| Ipswich Town (H) | Drew 1-1 |
| Liverpool (H) | Drew 2-2 |
| Chelsea (H) | Won 2-1 |
| Crystal Palace | Lost 4-1 |
However, that goal was then subject to a VAR check, which with semi-automated offside still to be introduced, took some time to conclude.
In the end though it was determined that Watkins was narrowly offside by his knee cap, as Mike Dean had claimed to be the case on Sky Sports.
Others though were far from happy at Aston Villa being disallowed the goal given the incredibly tight nature of the VAR decision.
Now Hackett has indeed suggested that changes to laws ought to be made, that could see decisions go in favour of attackers such as Watkins and Rogers.
Keith Hackett calls for rule change after Aston Villa goal disallowed
Speaking to Football Insider about that disallowed goal for Aston Villa, the former referee said:
“The delay in the introduction of the semi-automated offside system is not helping our match officials and clubs.
“The semi automated offside system works by having a multitude of cameras installed into every ground that cover a variety of angles throughout the match.
“These cameras will then follow the precise movement of the ball, while also focusing on 29 points on each of the 22 players and automatically confirm whether the player is in an offside position or not.
“The VAR then determines from the information provided if the player has committed an offside offence. Until that system is in place we will continue to question the current system.
“I also believe that the IFAB the lawmakers need to introduce a change in law where the attacking team is given the benefit of the doubt.
“This might be to change the position of the attacker and defender and look for a gap between him before offside is judged.”
Although Aston Villa did eventually equalise through Rogers in the second half, goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Sarr and Eddie Nketiah still secured a comfortable win for Crystal Palace.