You can understand why fans might be confused, especially so for West Ham's 'goal' on Tuesday night, disallowed by the VAR for offside, in their 2-1 home loss to Nottingham Forest. Hammers winger Crysencio Summerville touched the ball forward, Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic made a block tackle and that sent the ball to West Ham's Taty Castellanos. It then comes down to what is called a 'deliberate play' by a defender, as this resets offside and would allow the goal to count. But the lawmakers do not consider a 'deliberate play' as an intention to touch the ball. A 'deliberate play' that goes to an opponent is usually a misplaced pass or a skewed clearance.

Source: BBC January 07, 2026 15:32 UTC