Aston Villa boss Dean Smith calls for review of controversial offside law

Smith has been hit with a one-match touchline ban having ‘reluctantly’ accepted an FA charge for using insulting language toward the match officials, during his protests following Bernardo Silva’s 79th-minute strike.

But he remains concerned by the circumstances surrounding the goal, scored after Villa defender Tyrone Mings was dispossessed by City midfielder Rodri, coming back from an offside position.

Though Premier League’s officiating body, PGMOL, later claimed referee Jon Moss had interpreted the law correctly, the incident has sparked widespread debate with former top-flight official Dermot Gallagher declaring it ‘an unpalatable loophole’.

And Smith said: “Nobody liked what they saw and it certainly didn’t seem to be in the spirit of the game.

“I certainly don’t want Tyrone just heading the ball back to Manchester City and them having the ball for three minutes. I want him to bring it down and wanting to play.

“That is how I ask my team to play. It is certainly a law that needs looking into. I have been told Dermot Gallagher used the word unpalatable. If that is the case the authorities need to look at it.”

The law was brought into further focus when Cristiano Ronaldo was flagged offside in the same situation while playing for Juventus on the same night Villa were beaten at City.

Smith continued: “I’ve managed over 500 games and that’s the first time this has ever happened. There’s not many things that come and surprise you in terms of the laws of the game.

“In the history I’ve got, usually when a player is 10 yards offside and gets involved in play the flag goes up very quickly. It didn’t on this occasion and they’ve gone on and scored and it’s raised a lot of questions for the lawmakers of the game rather than myself.”

Smith was sent-off by Moss after asking the officials ‘“whether they had received juggling balls for Christmas?’ and then making a further follow-up remark. It means he will watch Saturday's match against Newcastle from the stands.

He said: “I felt hard done by, certainly on Wednesday. I didn’t feel I had done enough to earn the red card.

“I reluctantly accept the charge. If they feel what I said was insulting I have to take that on the chin.

“I have respect for officials. It is a tough job. I referee some of our five-a-side games and it is tough. We understand how difficult the job they are given is.

"It was a really difficult one on Wednesday night because it was some obscure law nobody in the stadium knew of apart from the officials.

“It is a little like the vicar knowing the Bible. Officials need to know the laws of the game.

“No managers knew that law. We had never seen that happen before and it was a situation where it happened twice, on the same night, in two different countries and the interpretation of the law was different.”