Ian Wright pitches why offside Newcastle goal should be given with rule proposal

Ian Wright lamented the decision to award Fabian Schar's strike as offside, as Newcastle were knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton.

The Swiss defender looked to have won the game after smartly dispatching Bruno Guimaraes' cross, but cruelly saw his goal chalked off. VAR intervened with semi-automated offside technology judging the Newcastle defender to have been offside from the Magpies' free-kick.

While there is no indication the decision was incorrect, Wright was left frustrated that Schar was penalised. The former Arsenal striker highlighted that he would prefer a new rule, promoted by ex-Gunners manager Arsene Wenger, implemented.

The change would see daylight required to award offside. Wenger's plan would mean that a player is judged as onside if any part of their body that can score a goal is at least level with a defender.

"When you look at the shoulder, this is what Arsene Wenger is talking about," Wright said on ITV. "Bending runs, that's what it's about, to stay onside you try and bend your run and keep your feet onside, thats what he's trying to get rid of, the shoulder.

"Who scores with their shoulder? People say you can, but how many people score with their shoulders?!"

Not everyone is supportive of such alternations to offside laws. Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has criticised how it could change the complexion of football at the highest levels.

"This will be terrible for the game as teams will defend completely differently than we see now. Lots of lows blocks & teams being negative," Carragher posted on X earlier this year.

"How would you defend a set piece!! We don’t need more advantage for the attacker, the game is seeing more goals scored than ever!!!!"

The fifth round of the FA Cup has seen semi-automated offsides implemented for the first time. That change has already come with controversy as Bournemouth's match against Wolves endured a farcical eight-minute delay.

The FA's website states semi-automated offsides should take 30 seconds less than average to reach a decision. But, the new technology could not be used due to the complexity of the decision which required judgement on whether the ball came off Milos Kerkez's arm and then Dean Huijsen's arm followed by an offside check.

The FA's guidance also said: "Most offside decisions will be quicker, but VAR will still have the option to draw crosshairs as a backup to the SAOT system if required.

"This process may be necessary in ‘edge cases’ where several players block the view of the ball or other players for the system’s cameras. This may occasionally result in the length of check we have seen previously in specific scenarios with VAR checking close offsides.

"The length of certain VAR checks may also remain where decisions need to consider multiple offside checks or other offenses such as fouls or handballs in the attacking possession phase (APP)."