Alan Shearer rages over ‘really annoying’ Mohammed Kudus incident in West Ham United clash v Tottenham
Alan Shearer found it “really annoying” the linesman took his time to flag West Ham star Mohammed Kudus offside when he squandered a chance in the first half against Tottenham.
Kudus, 23, was several yards offside when he received the ball to put himself in on Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. However the linesman allowed play to continue, allowing the Ghana star to fire a shot well off target.
Eventually, the flag spared Kudus’ blushes but Shearer admits he hates it when it takes that long for an obvious offside to be given.
Speaking on Amazon Prime’s live coverage on Thursday (7 December, 08:45pm), Shearer said: “Am I the only one that finds that really annoying, that late flag?”
Clive Tyldesley said: “Well, they’ve got to be right.”
Shearer added: “Well, when it’s that obvious. He’s only two or three yards off, wasn’t he?”
Tyldesley then admitted: “You’re probably not the only one.”
Shearer replied: “Thank you.”
Annoying
Shearer’s right, it is a pain to see a player be so far offside and then be given the chance to score.
It’s a product of VAR because nowadays, linesmen and referees don’t really need to make too many big decisions themselves at the moment. After all, the buck can always be passed to someone in Stockley Park.
What was going through the linesman’s head was that he knew it was an offside but wanted the backup from VAR if he got it wrong.
But what’s the point of a linesman at all in that situation if that’s the case?
Kudus was obviously offside and you’ve just allowed him to ruin his confidence a bit or, on the other end of the spectrum, get a sight at goal so he’s better suited to scoring next time.
It’s a pointless exercise and this is one of the many reasons why VAR is ruining the Premier League.
Get it in the bin already.
In other West Ham news, here’s why this Irons star was nowhere to be seen against Tottenham.