02 September 2023 , 17:13
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Fulham boss Marco Silva has blasted referee Michael Oliver after he allowed Manchester City's second goal against the Cottagers on Saturday to stand.
Nathan Ake scored four minutes into first-half stoppage time, despite Manuel Akanji clearly influencing play while standing in an offside position. Neither Oliver, his assistants or VAR Tony Harrington saw fit to rule the goal out though, with the Fulham players left furious.
Boss Silva was also fuming with the decision, remonstrating with fourth official Michael Salisbury. The goal did stand though, with City ultimately going on to secure a 5-1 thrashing of the visitors, though Silva was still incensed while conducting his post-match media duties.
"That moment made a huge impact. Everyone that plays football, has some knowledge about football, are 100% sure they have to disallow that. It's impossible to not. It's a clear offside, it concerns us how that goal was not disallowed," he said.
"The more you times you see that moment, the more sure you are to disallow it. Our players saw it, everyone on the pitch at that moment has the same opinion."
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Fulham skipper Tim Ream was also left furious and admitted to feeling frustrated that the goal had stood. The defender insisted that the decision had a key impact on the outcome of the game.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Nathan Ake's goal been allowed to stand? Comment below.
Despite Manuel Akanji being in an offside position, this goal was allowed to stand for Manchester City (Viaplay)"You never want to lose a game like that. We had a good first half and a very much below average second half. We didn't show the same aggressiveness in the second half and results like that happen," he told Sky Sports.
"They [City] have a lot of quality all over the pitch and coming off the bench, and if you aren't aggressive for 90 minutes plus then things can get out of hand very quickly.
"From our point of view, whenever someone is stood in front of the goal, the ball goes directly at him and he has to jump over the ball it is offside. He was offside to begin with and then when he has to jump over the ball too, it is frustrating when that doesn't get called.
"Whenever goals are scored just before or after half time it is always a critical period in the game, it is a tough moment to concede. You go in at half time with a down feeling instead of going in at 1-1 and feeling like you could get something from the game."
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean was fully behind Silva, insisting the referees had made a huge error of judgement. Dean was adamant that Akanji was interfering with play.
"In my opinion no it just can't stand. He's jumped over the ball, he has to be interfering...because the player is there, he [Leno] is hesitating. It just has to be disallowed," he told Sky Sports.
Former Tottenham star Michael Dawson added: "I completely disagree with the decision. Completely offside, no wonder Marco Silva's angry. Leno takes an extra step because he thinks Akanji is going to take an extra touch.”