The first goal of Sterling's quick-fire hat-trick was initially ruled out by referee Paul Tierney after his assistant, Adrian Holmes, had flagged for offside.
Yet a lengthy debate between the officials eventually saw Tierney award the goal, sparking an angry reaction from Watford players.
It was a controversial call from Tierney, with Sterling finding the net after a covering tackle from Daryl Janmaat as he attempted to shoot deflected off the City star and into the bottom corner.
Former Premier League referee Peter Walton explained the incident in the immediate aftermath on BT Sport, stating: "It's whether or not he's interfered with his opponent, but I think he's interfered with his opponent.
"I am surprised it's happened, but when we see the reverse angle we can see the Watford defender has clearly played the ball onto Sterling and he's therefore played Sterling on by deliberately playing the ball.
"In my opinion, I think Sterling has influenced that defender and therefore should have been signalled offside, but clearly the match officials have said that's a deliberate play from the defender, and therefore he's played Sterling onside."
The situation essentially boils down to whether Sterling, who was in an offside position after Aguero's ball in, influenced Janmaat and caused the defender to play the ball onto him.
The offside law states:
A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:
It would therefore appear the referee deemed Sterling was not yet interfering with play at the time of Janmaat's challenge as he had not touched the ball and was not impacting or preventing the player from being able to player the ball.
However, it appeared he was clearly attempting to play the ball as he pulled his right leg back to attempt a shot himself, with the ball eventually ricocheting off his leg to beat Ben Foster.
Paul Tierney was left with a judgement call on whether or not Sterling had caused Janmaat to play the ball onto him, and ultimately decide that was not the case and decide to award a controversial goal with key repercussions in the title race.
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interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or
interfering with an opponent by:
preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
challenging an opponent for the ball or
clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball
It would therefore appear the referee deemed Sterling was not yet interfering with play at the time of Janmaat's challenge as he had not touched the ball and was not impacting or preventing the player from being able to player the ball.
However, it appeared he was clearly attempting to play the ball as he pulled his right leg back to attempt a shot himself, with the ball eventually ricocheting off his leg to beat Ben Foster.
Paul Tierney was left with a judgement call on whether or not Sterling had caused Janmaat to play the ball onto him, and ultimately decide that was not the case and decide to award a controversial goal with key repercussions in the title race.
source:
www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/reason-raheem-sterlings-controversial-offside-14112014
