Everton vs Liverpool: Jarrad Branthwaite’s Goal Won’t Have Stood Under New Offside Changes

• Jarrad Branthwaite's goal against Liverpool would probably not have stood under new changes
• The Everton centre-back was an unlikely scorer as they put a dent in Jurgen Klopp's title hopes
• Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) will replace the current system from the new season

Liverpool's hopes for the Premier League title suffered a serious blow when they lost 2-0 to Everton on April 24 at Goodison Park.

Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin ensured that Jurgen Klopp suffered his first Merseyside derby loss.

The result was also the first time Everton won the derby since 2010 when current Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, scored a belter.

Everton vs Liverpool match report

However, the Toffees were lucky to see Branthwaite's goal stand with the current offside technology used by the Premier League playing in their favour.

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The hosts had earlier seen a penalty decision overturned after Calvert-Lewin was fouled by Alisson Becker inside the area. Replays showed the England international was offside in the build-up, and thus, the penalty decision was withdrawn.

Liverpool weren't lucky the second time as the VAR drew lines to see whether Branthwaite was offside the first time when Dwight McNeil swung in the free kick.

After a little bit of ping-pong football inside the Reds' penalty area, the Everton man latched onto a poor clearance from Alexis Mac Allister to poke the ball past Alisson.

Why Jarrad Branthwaite's goal vs Liverpool stood

VAR images show that only one line, a green one, was drawn on Liverpool's last defender, Ibrahima Konate, to ascertain whether he was playing Branthwaite onside or not. When the two lines overlap, only the defender's is shown and not the red one that denotes offside.

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The hawk-eye system currently used for offside decisions has a 'tolerance level' or 'benefit of doubt' due to flaws in the accuracy of the VAR drawing up the lines manually. So, with only one line being used, Branthwaite was adjudged to be behind the line, hence in an onside position, and the goal stood.

ESPN's VAR expert Dale Johnson explains that the goal may not have stood if the league was using the semi-automated offside technology. The Premier League recently confirmed that the new technology will be used from next season, but not from the start.

"Next season, with the introduction of semi-automated technology, which has no tolerance level, it may well be disallowed."

How does the semi-automated offside technology work?

Sports Brief has previously explained how the semi-automated offside technology works after use in top competitions worldwide, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the Champions League.

There will be cameras positioned underneath the stadium's roof to track the ball and 29 body parts of individual players. These 29 points are all the body parts of a player who could legally play the ball.