Keith Hackett stunned by ‘shocking’ Omar Marmoush incident in Man City vs Salford City
Omar Marmoush should never have seen his goal chalked off for offside during Man City’s narrow win over Salford City in the FA Cup.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that, while officials are human, this decision was not even close on Saturday, 14 February.
Pep Guardiola’s side advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup, but the game was not without its contentious moments, as Marmoush could not fire Man City two goals ahead against the League Two side.
Marc Guehi would eventually double the home team’s lead at the Etihad Stadium, 75 minutes after Alfie Dorrington’s sixth-minute own goal, but it could have been a very different story for the Premier League giants.
Keith Hackett shocked by offside decision in Man City vs Salford
In the 22nd minute, Abdukodir Khusanov fired a smart ball through to the Egyptian striker, who had timed his run to perfection, only to see the offside flag when he turned around.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the offside decision, the former referee said: “This was not a difficult offside decision. To wipe out a goal… Look, people are going to make mistakes.
“We’ve got to remember that they’re human. But I think that this was just so easy. We weren’t looking for who was active in the penalty area, where you forensically examine whether they interfered.
“No, this was straight down the line. He was onside, easily onside, at the time of the ball being kicked, but his goal was still ruled out. Shocking.”
Newcastle United also suffer from no VAR in the FA Cup
Although Newcastle United eventually advanced to the next round of the FA Cup, Eddie Howe and his players were hugely frustrated by some of the refereeing decisions at Villa Park.
Firstly, Tammy Abraham was blatantly offside when firing home the opener, the complete opposite of City’s problem, before Lucas Digne avoided being sent off and giving away a penalty.
The former Everton left-back went crashing into a high challenge on Jacob Murphy, and was also clearly inside the penalty area when blocking a cross with his arm. Baffling.
It was not a good weekend for officials across England, but in City’s case, it could have been much worse than just having a goal wrongfully disallowed. Newcastle really drew the short straw.