Agbonlahor: Official should be ‘demoted to U8s’ after Coutinho twist at Aston Villa

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Adrian Holmes should be “demoted to the Under-8s” after he wrongly flagged Philippe Coutinho as offside just before he scored for Aston Villa in their 1-1 draw with Man City on Saturday (3 September).

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Aston Villa’s record Premier League goalscorer insisted there must be a “punishment” for officials who make the wrong calls.

The assistant referee did not follow the guidelines as he raised his flag when he thought Coutinho was in an offside position just before he put the ball in the net.

Holmes should have kept his flag down until the move finished but he forced Simon Hooper to blow his whistle and the goal did not stand.

The Premier League confirmed on Monday (5 September) that he has not been axed for his blunder and will be running the line as Southampton face Brentford on Saturday (10 September).

“The assistant referee who put his flag up, he should be doing my son’s game on Saturday, he’s Under-8s,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.

“I think he should be demoted to do a Sunday League game or a Saturday League game because it’s plain and obvious.

“If I was a footballer and my manager told me ‘This is what you do’ then you do it. Referees have bosses who tell them, ‘Don’t put your flipping flag up’.

“It’s not rocket science, the rules have changed, you wait until afterwards. Wait for Coutinho to finish off the attack then if it was offside, the flag would have gone up.

“Would Ederson have made a better effort at saving it? Yes. Would the midfielder have made a better effort at stopping the shot? Yes.

“It might not have been a goal but can we just teach the referees to stick to the rules? It’s not rocket science.

“There’s got to be some sort of punishment for referees and VAR officials, there’s got to be answers.”


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By: Gabriel Agbonlahor
Title: Agbonlahor: Official should be ‘demoted to U8s’ after Coutinho twist at Aston Villa
Sourced From: www.footballinsider247.com/agbonlahor-official-should-be-demoted-to-u8s-after-philippe-coutinho-twist-at-aston-villa/
Published Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000