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Thursday, April 03, 2008

Was Bendtner offside and selfish?



By 1970’s Gooner

There are two striking aspects with regard to Nicklas Bendtner’s involvement on the goal line when Fabregas’s shot looked goal bound.

The first concerns whether the linesman got the decision right to flag Bendtner offside which would have ruled out the goal had Bendtner scored himself.

There are some interesting complications arising out of that incident. Firstly whether he was indeed offside.

Well on the one hand he looks as though he was, as Reina the Liverpool goalkeeper was actually in front of him leaving only Hyppia between Bendtner and the next Liverpool player.


And as we all know you need to be between two opponents to be ruled offside whoever they are.

However there is another twist to this line of thinking.

If you look closely at the video of the incident (on the right hand side of this page on the video bar) you will see that there is another Liverpool player, Carragher, who is technically on the field of play as his hand is touching the line next to Reina’s post.

He had slid off a moment earlier trying to tackle Adebayor who had initially crossed the ball into the area.

So Bentner was not offside and the linesman was wrong to flag.

Also if Bendtner had jumped over the ball there was no way the linesman could have flagged for offside as he was not interfering with play anyway. There was no opponent near him enough to be put off by Bendtner’s presence there.

But was Bendtner trying to get out of the way of the shot or was he trying to guide it into the goal?

Arsene Wenger explained after the game: "Nicklas says he wanted to get out of the way but he couldn't. It's unbelievable."

Opinions differ and you can make your on mind up. To me it looks as though he is trying to claim the goal for himself as his foot is trying to caress it into the net. But others may look at it differently.

Was Bendtner selfish or was he trying to get out of the way?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

100% selfish. he defo tried to touch the ball into the net to claim the glory, im not saying i particularily blame him as he is a striker and has the instinct to score goals, but there is no way he couldnt have jumped out the way of the ball without touching it.

Anonymous said...

Bendtner has a lot of potential, however he is still very young and naive. He in my opnion tried to flick the ball in. And messed th goa up, but hey one day he will replace adebayor as the better "big" striker!

Anonymous said...

who cares now at the end it was 1-1 we can argue all day if it was selfish or what not .... WERE GOING TO WIN AT ANFIELD - thats what we should be talking about

Anonymous said...

He was trying to get out of the way. No doubt. His momentum had carried him inot the path, and we was trying to jump out of the way.

Anonymous said...

Bendtner has an excellent touch-the ball sticks to him. I will never be convinced that he was trying to score...he just couldnt move his foot out of the way.

Not only was that a great chance and Hleb should have had a pen, Eboue missed out best chance when he fell over in the box (suprise suprise) and scuffed his shot so Turtle could clear.

Wofa said...

Yes he was offside but A BIG NO..he was not selfish..he was also trying to head the ball in.cut him some slack..if he had the time bayor has had he would be a lot better...lets not blame anyone...once again the performance was good but lacking fire power upfront...and too much passing around and in the box..FOR CHRIST'S SAKE SHOOT!!!ANYONE!!!

Anonymous said...

I watched this in slow motion on tivo 5 times, he DEFINITELY was trying to score. His left foot was moving away from the ball and then came back in for a back flick. But bless him anyway.

Anonymous said...

maybe he didnt realise where the post was and so in his mind he could either leave it an risk it going wide, making him look a bit of an idiot or try and make sure it went in himself...i think he went for the latter

Anonymous said...

He tried to avoid the ball. In no way selfish. Also, whether Carragher was touching the line or not, he needs the referee's permission to leave the field of play, so he was still in play!!! Not offside...linesman should've known that...

Anonymous said...

Of course he tried to flick the ball in bt who wouldnt if the ball came straight at him? There was no way he could have known for sure the ball would have been goin in so he needed to lick it to be sure!!!! But it went all wrong and thats not being selfish nobody would have left the ball alone if it had come straight at him.

Anonymous said...

I just wish he had cleared the ball as well as that when we played at Goodison Park earlier this season, although it made no difference in the end. I believe that he was trying to score.

Anonymous said...

it doesn't matter now.. I'm not sure if he was or wasn't, but this will only make us feel crap talking about how we should have won.. Lets just get a f**kin' result in the second leg!!

Anonymous said...

YES

He was tryin to score..

BUT, the important thing is that, he was doing it with a honest intention. .I dont think he simply wanted the glory for himself..

Look at the video..IMO, HE DOES NOT KNOW THAT THE BALL IS GOING INTO THE NET..HE THINKS HE'S GOT A GREAT THROUGH BALL, AND THAT ALL HE HAS TO DO IS JUST TURN ROUND AND FINISH..

His reaction later also suggests the same..I'm not a big fan of the lad, but ppl make mistakes..Forgive him..

Anonymous said...

could he not have back into the net to avoid being offside i am not sure how the rules would take this action

Anonymous said...

No matter Bendtner action is inadvertant or not, I do not believe Bendtner in a year or 2 are starting 11 material.

Wenger should consider to get a developed good finisher who is happy to be on the bench. This will allow Wenger to loan some of our strikers to other teams(preferably other Prem teams).

Anonymous said...

Bendtner's an arse and should be let go. His ego is bigger than his concern for the team and this was reflected by his attempt to steal Cesc's potential goal and is obvious from his painful to watch interviews. Let him go Arsene and buy better!

Anonymous said...

Simple, he tried to score because e thought it was going wide

Tom Lacy said...

No matter Bendtner action is inadvertant or not, I do not believe Bendtner in a year or 2 are starting 11 material. Wenger should consider to get a developed good finisher who is happy to be on the bench. This will allow Wenger to loan some of our strikers to other teams(preferably other Prem teams).