Mark Clattenburg has poured cold water on Jordan Henderson's "bendy lines" conspiracy comment but says the current offside rule needs to change.
The Liverpool skipper thought he had snatched a last-gasp 3-2 win for the Premier League champions in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Saturday.
However, Sadio Mane was deemed to have been in an offside position and so VAR chalked the goal off after an incredibly close call, with the pulsating affair ending 2-2.
The Senegalese forward did appear to be onside on first view, leading to Henderson making an interesting explanation for the goal being disallowed.
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"I think they bend the line sometimes to make it offside," Henderson told Des Kelly on BT Sport.
"I'm not sure how they do it and I've seen it before."
That comment, although maybe said in jest, has been debunked by former Premier League ref Clattenburg.
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The 45-year-old says Mane was just off going off the much-maligned offside law and gave some insight into the VAR process that he thinks was applied correctly.
"Don't blame VAR - blame the law," Clattenburg wrote in his latest column,
"Sadio Mane was ruled offside for Jordan Henderson's goal and the Liverpool captain complained about the camera angle shown on television.
"He suggested officials 'bend the lines' to make it offside. At the risk of ruining a good conspiracy, I'm afraid that isn't the case!
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"It's like watching a horse race in your living room - you may think your horse has won, then the photo finish shows you lost. We see a certain angle on television and that can trick you into thinking someone is onside.
"But the technology used by VAR is designed to draw lines that are parallel on the pitch. It triangulates a picture that, rest assured, is not crooked.
"After that, it's about finding the players' furthest points forward. Mane's was his sleeve - as per the new rules - and that was rightly measured against an Everton foot. So the Liverpool striker was indeed offside, but this doesn't sit right with me.
"Our beautiful game is about goals and we don't want to see those ruled out by a millimetre here or there. It is the law that needs to be looked at, rather than the application of VAR."
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Henderson, meanwhile, is still yet to find out whether he could be in trouble with the FA for the comments he made in the post-match interview.
Having also seen Virgil van Dijk badly injured by Jordan Pickford, who went unpunished for his wild challenge, Liverpool have requested the Premier League open an investigation into the VAR decisions.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, Mark Clattenburg, Everton, Jordan Henderson
