Controversial St James' Park change denies Newcastle United 'amazing win' as Premier League make announcement
As it happened, semi-automated offside technology ended up playing a key role in Newcastle United’s FA Cup fifth-round defeat to Brighton on Sunday.
The technology was implemented for the first time in English domestic football at St James’ Park and across other Premier League grounds hosting FA Cup fifth-round matches over the weekend. And Newcastle had two goals ruled out in the game before falling to a 2-1 defeat at St James’ Park.
While Alexander Isak’s first-half strike was flagged for offside on field before a SAOT check confirmed the decision, Newcastle thought they’d won the match in the 93rd minute as Fabian Schar volleyed in from Bruno Guimaraes’ free-kick delivery only for the technology to intervene and overturn the decision.
SAOT has been introduced to help make faster offside decisions in matches. There was roughly a two-minute gap between Schar finding the net and referee Anthony Taylor announcing to St James’ Park that the goal was disallowed due to offside.
The announcement, which came over the stadium’s PA system was met with boos from the home supporters while the small section of away fans in level seven rejoiced. Brighton ended up winning the match in extra-time with a 114th-minute strike from substitute Danny Welbeck.
Had Schar’s goal been scored in an earlier round or in the Carabao Cup, it would have stood due to no VAR or SAOT being in place. But a rule change has seen technology implemented from the fifth round onwards.
And Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was disappointed that the fine margins ultimately cost his side ‘an amazing win’.
“Yeah it's not a great day,” Howe admitted. “[It] could have been, and that's the margins in football we speak about all the time.
“I mean, if Fab is onside by the shortest of distance, we're sitting here with an amazing win and what character from the players.
“So you always have to put it in context and we can't overreact, I certainly can't overreact and I won't and I'll make sure that we're okay for our next match.”
Newcastle travel to face West Ham United at the London Stadium on March 10 in the Premier League before playing Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium on March 16. The Magpies will be without winger Anthony Gordon for both matches as well as their next Premier League home match against Brentford in a month’s time after he was shown a straight red card for pushing Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke in the head.
Semi-automated offside technology delayed by Premier League
Semi-automated technology was expected to be introduced within the opening months of the season but there has been some controversy surrounding its introduction, causing a delay. The Premier League had voiced concerns over its effectiveness and have so far refrained from implementing it in the top flight.
Now in March, the FA Cup has finally put the system in place. While there is no confirmed date for the system to be introduced for league matches, the Premier League have announced that they will look to implement SAOT before the end of the 2024-25 season.
“Following successful live operation in the FA Cup, the Premier League will look to implement the system later this season,” a Premier League statement read.
An FA statement confirming the introduction of SAOT read: “Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) will be used for the first time in English football in the fifth round of the 2024-25 Emirates FA Cup – in the seven ties where Premier League sides have been drawn at home.
“SAOT will provide more efficient placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and produce virtual graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters.
“The operation of semi-automated offside technology does not change the accuracy of the decision making but enhances the speed, efficiency and consistency of the process. The Premier League has worked in collaboration with PGMOL and sports data and technology company Genius Sports to develop a new SAOT system – and this will be its first use in a live competition.”