Why was Florian Wirtz’s ‘offside’ goal for Liverpool vs. Fulham allowed to stand? | OneFootball

Social media was set ablaze with talk of PGMOL conspiracies, the red cartel, and all sorts of other nonsense after Florian Wirtz’s equaliser for Liverpool in their 2-2 draw with Fulham was allowed to stand – despite looking offside to the naked eye.

“I was sure it was offside so I didn’t even celebrate,” Wirtz told Sky Sports after the final whistle, having seen the linesman flag as soon as the ball ended up in the back of the net.

“I felt the same. Many people inside the stadium felt the same,” responded Fulham boss Marco Silva, who was fairly clear-eyed and magnanimous.

“It looked offside, but we have to believe the semi-automated technology worked well and did right.”

Sure enough, if you take a freeze-frame still of the moment that the ball left Conor Bradley’s boot it certainly appears that the Germany international is just behind the last Fulham body.

The lines on the pitch help, with Wirtz’s foot just ahead, in line with penalty spot, while Fulham defender Issa Diop is just behind it.

While it’s clear to see that Wirtz is minimally offside, particularly through a 2026 lens where the average football viewer is accustomed to intricate video-assisted reviews, you might have called it “level” in the pre-VAR era.

That’s what football’s lawmakers had in mind when they made a tweak to the Premier League rules over four years ago – way back at the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

“The toenails and noses that might have been offside last year won’t be next season,” explained Mike Riley, general manager of PGMOL at the time.

“We will carry on following the same process as last year, so you’ll apply the pixel lines, place the attacking line and defending line on top, and then the thicker broadcast lines. But where they overlap those, situations will now be deemed as onside.”

Bringing in an extra level of ‘tolerance’ is ultimately why Wirtz’s goal stood, despite being originally flagged by the linesman at Craven Cottage.

While it’s clear to see that Wirtz was offside, if we’re talking to the millimetre, he fell within the approximate 5cm threshold of tolerance.

That’s the technical reason for the goal being given. But it does throw up something of a can of worms.

For example, other competitions – such as the Champions League – have binned off the idea of a ‘tolerance level’ since it started using the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT), judging offsides to the millimetre.

So if Wirtz’s goal had been scored on a European night, it wouldn’t have counted. That’s despite the Premier League now also using SAOT, albeit not the same system that UEFA uses.

You also have the issue of scenarios where offsides that appear to be just as marginal, at least to the layman’s view, have been ruled out as offside.

For example, the same afternoon Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon saw a goal ruled out for an offside in the build-up that looked just as close, if not closer.

Remember when they told us VAR would stop us squabbling about offsides?