Did the referee miss a back pass yesterday?

[flyingfish]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

[cookieg]

I thought that too at the time.

[sarnian]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

[flyingfish]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

I didn't realise this was a nuance of the backpass rule, thanks

[Mickeyboro]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

I didn't realise this was a nuance of the backpass rule, thanks

I am staggered a back pass is suddenly not a backpass. What are the odds it'd have been given against us?!

[Angus Telford]

He had a wobbly spell where it appeared to strike him that the big club might not win.

There was the backpass he let go

Wilson pulled back when clean through and he chose to only to show a yellow

And somehow he blew for offside against Raul when Raul was nowhere near the ball, then when Raul caught up with the ball and swung a foot at it (the point at which the ref should have blown for offside) he booked Raul, for kicking the ball away after the (mistimed) whistle   

[Holders]

Similarly, does anyone know if Saka's goal was checked for offside?

[hovewhite]

Similarly, does anyone know if Saka's goal was checked for offside?

did think VAR was nursing a hangover.

[Andy S]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

I didn't realise this was a nuance of the backpass rule, thanks

I am staggered a back pass is suddenly not a backpass. What are the odds it'd have been given against us?!

No not a back pass although the crowd appealed for it no player did. Once the second player had control of the ball and let it run that is it.
I thought the ref had a reasonable game. No ref ever gets all the decisions correct although that should be the aim.

[_Putney_]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

I didn't realise this was a nuance of the backpass rule, thanks

I am staggered a back pass is suddenly not a backpass. What are the odds it'd have been given against us?!

No not a back pass although the crowd appealed for it no player did. Once the second player had control of the ball and let it run that is it.
I thought the ref had a reasonable game. No ref ever gets all the decisions correct although that should be the aim.

Can you reference the law that explains this?

[cookieg]

Similarly, does anyone know if Saka's goal was checked for offside?

They probably looked at it but he wasn't offside when the ball was played.

[Rupert]

Can you reference the law that explains this?

I can't recall the law which regulates the back-pass, but this is one of the examples given during referee training of how the rules have to be applied. The law states something along the lines of the pass having to be deliberate and to the goalie, so a deflection off of a defender's foot, for example, can not be defined as a back-pass, nor can it be when the ball is passed to another player, and the goalie then shouts for it instead.

Another interesting one is where a player goes to take a corner, puts his foot on the ball, then another player calls that he will take it. Everyone stands back politely while he collects the ball and suddenly runs at the defence, because the corner was taken when the first player put his foot on the ball. I had a couple of teams quietly have a word, pre-match, to ensure I knew that one before they tried it, and I saw Fulham do it once in a Europa game, only for the ref to incorrectly order the kick to be retaken.

[Grassy Noel]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

I didn't realise this was a nuance of the backpass rule, thanks

I am staggered a back pass is suddenly not a backpass. What are the odds it'd have been given against us?!

No not a back pass although the crowd appealed for it no player did. Once the second player had control of the ball and let it run that is it.
I thought the ref had a reasonable game. No ref ever gets all the decisions correct although that should be the aim.

Can you reference the law that explains this?

Sometimes I think that there is no law and only precedent - like Man City did it and got away with it so it is a precedent for refs.

[filham]

From where I was sitting it looked like Jesus backheeled a pass to Raya who picked it up and threw it out for a quick break from arsenal. Did I miss something or should we have had a free kick?

Jesus back heeled to a fellow defender and the keeper then called to let it run to him. Not originally a pass to the keeper so nothing wrong.

I didn't realise this was a nuance of the backpass rule, thanks

Surely if no Fulham player touched the ball between the backheel and the keeper it is an offence. The possibility that the backheel may have been intended for someone else is irrelevant.

[Rupert]

Surely if no Fulham player touched the ball between the backheel and the keeper it is an offence. The possibility that the backheel may have been intended for someone else is irrelevant.

No, the law is quite clear on that. The pass must be deliberate.

[jarv]

I thought so. It was deliberate but ref stretched it a bit because it was off target. If a ball is played through by accident to a player offside, he is still offside. Whats the difference, a back pass is still a backpass.

[_Putney_]

Here are the FA's laws, with irrelevant parts removed:

An indirect free kick is awarded if a player:


initiates a deliberate trick for the ball to be passed (including from a free kick or goal kick) to the goalkeeper with the head, chest, knee etc. to circumvent the Law, whether or not the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hands; the goalkeeper is penalised if responsible for initiating the deliberate trick

An indirect free kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area, commits any of the following offences:
touches the ball with the hand/arm, unless the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play, after:
it has been deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team-mate

So, on one hand, you could argue that the ball was not deliberately kick to the Arsenal keeper, so play should continue.

However, the player who let the ball run might fall under the 'etc.' part of initiating a trick to circumvent the law, and therefore, play should have stopped for a backpass.

None of this matters now, of course, but it's interesting to dissect it.

[Surlyc]

I'm not sure there's a less understood rule in football than the backpass. I've long suspected that it's like the "six second" rule - something I remember from my childhood that doesn't actually exist in the modern game.

[General]

He had a wobbly spell where it appeared to strike him that the big club might not win.

There was the backpass he let go

Wilson pulled back when clean through and he chose to only to show a yellow

And somehow he blew for offside against Raul when Raul was nowhere near the ball, then when Raul caught up with the ball and swung a foot at it (the point at which the ref should have blown for offside) he booked Raul, for kicking the ball away after the (mistimed) whistle   

I think the ref got the Wilson decision right. He wasn't clean on through and saliba and Gabriel were either side of him. Yes one of them pulled Wilson back, but the other was on hand too, plus Raya was also closing in limiting Wilsons space. All in all a yellow seems fair.

Re the pass back, I can't remember that, but I think it happens quite often when referees miss them.. it's a shame they're not picked up on often but referees have and always will be fallable. Really should be doing more in the game to deserve winning than nit picking on the odd decision. If you get caught up in that then you'll start getting into your head too much and not focusing on the real goal, which is winning the game no matter what.

[HamsterWheel]

Perhaps the ref just didn't spot it. He only seemed to see fouls on Arsenal, woeful performance. He even sat on Iwobi at one point. He was as energised as Arsenal.