Gary Neville leaves Jamie Carragher in stitches with Liverpool 'offside' comment
Cody Gakpo had the air of a man who thought his goal would be chalked off when he tapped in to put Liverpool back in front against Aston Villa. A muted celebration came only after he had looked sheepishly over to the assistant referee.
In the end, Gakpo was comfortably onside from Joe Gomez's initial effort. But a lengthy VAR check nonetheless ensued in order to ascertain whether the defender was ahead of the last man when he received the ball.
He looked marginally off to the naked eye, but the lines showed he was just onside, and Liverpool's lead was duly restored. The goal was dissected by the Sky Sports panel at half-time, and Gary Neville left fellow pundit Jamie Carragher in stitches.
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Neville set about analyzing the goalkeeper's role in the goal. But he couldn't help making an aside about the offside call:
"I think he [the goalkeeper] can [do better]. It’s been a poor first half for him. Liverpool worked it well again. I think he’s maybe a bit too near to his near post. There is a touch of offside about it. I think he’s past his near post and he should be further back."
At this point, Carragher and host David Jones cut in to point out that the VAR checked for any "touch of offside", and found that it was a perfectly legitimate goal. Neville begrudgingly joined in with the laughter, although he did note that it took 'about 20 minutes' to conclude that Gomez had been onside.