Not a 'deliberate play' - why West Ham 'goal' was ruled out for offside

How can a player be offside when the ball has been played to them by an opposition player?

You can understand why fans might be confused, especially so for West Ham's 'goal' on Tuesday night, disallowed by the VAR for offside, in their 2-1 home loss to Nottingham Forest.

Hammers winger Crysencio Summerville touched the ball forward, Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic made a block tackle and that sent the ball to West Ham's Taty Castellanos. Ten seconds later, West Ham thought Summerville had scored.

An offside phase is locked in by the final touch of a team-mate, even if that is not a pass. When Summerville played the ball, Castellanos was offside.

It then comes down to what is called a 'deliberate play' by a defender, as this resets offside and would allow the goal to count.

But the lawmakers do not consider a 'deliberate play' as an intention to touch the ball. There must be the realistic expectation of a controlled outcome.

Milenkovic making a block or a tackle does not count because he did not know where the ball might end up.

A 'deliberate play' that goes to an opponent is usually a misplaced pass or a skewed clearance.

The logic is an attacker should not be allowed to gain an advantage from being in an offside position when a defender is simply doing their job – and not making a mistake.

The most high profile disallowed goal came in the 2022 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool.

Madrid forward Federico Valverde touched the ball and both Ibrahima Konate and Fabinho made block tackles. The ball squirmed to Karim Benzema who scored, but he was offside from Valverde's touch.

Such offside decisions are always controversial for the team that suffers, but this is how the lawmakers intend it to be applied.