Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has torn into the referees by admitting he doesn't know 'where football is going' after the controversial awarding of Jonjo Shelvey's goal in the Blades' 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United.
The linesman flagged after Andy Carroll's flick on to Shelvey, causing the Blades defence to stop in their tracks, but the Newcastle midfielder carried on and slotted past Dean Henderson.
VAR then checked whether Carroll was indeed in an offside position and reversed the linesman's offside call and awarded the goal to Shelvey and Newcastle, a decision that has left Wilder extremely frustrated with the current rules and said it 'sucked the life' out his side.
'We were told at the start of the season, the linesman will not put his flag up. He put his flag up. Everyone stopped.
'I have looked back at it and Jonjo Shelvey nonchalantly went up and put it away. The game has changed. This is a new game, it is a completely different game to the one I am used to experiencing.
'This game in a heartbeat has changed and I don't know where it is going. It is sucking the life out of me and the supporters.
Wilder also suggested that had the flag been kept down, his side may well have prevented Shelvey from adding the second goal.
'It is fabulous isn't it? We keep saying we'll learn and we'll learn but he has put his flag up. If we are going to be spot on with it why is he putting his flag up?
'We get so many mixed messages all the time so Shelvey didn't play to the end, he jogged to that ball.
'If he had kept his flag down and Shelvey goes through maybe my goalkeeper makes a little bit more effort.'
Newcastle's victory at Bramall Lane was started by Allan Saint-Maximin, who scored his first goal for the Magpies with a header from Javi Manquillo's cross.
The result lifted Steve Bruce's side into 11th and level on points with Arsenal going into their weekend match against Southampton.
nufcbirty90
0
Eventually linesman will become irrelevant
pidbclnrst
0
everyone was onside. no whistle. it's not Jonjo's fault Sheffield decided to stop playing.
Sheffield is not a fault but the match officials. When the flag is up every one stops playing. In this case the flag went up and Sheffield players stopped playing believing the offside call. The rule is don't raise flags until after the actions. Var will look at it afterwards. The rule is to prevent a situation like this. It is unfair for a team to pay the price for the errors of match officials.
tiacdkmotz
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everyone was onside. no whistle. it's not Jonjo's fault Sheffield decided to stop playing.