Peter Corrigan: Out of line: the assistants who need assistance

With due respect to the forlorn Sol Campbell, the most serious issue to arise from the wildly dramatic draw between Arsenal and Manchester United at Highbury on Wednesday was not his outreach moment with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but the most blatant offside goal we've seen for a long time.

When I say "we've" seen I do not, of course, include the linesman, whose gross visual error caused this aberration. He is not the first linesman to be found wanting in the optical department, but it would be a great comfort if he could be numbered among the last.

I realise that in using the term "linesman" I am abusing the instruction that these officials are now to be called "referee's assistants", but although their duties have become a little more sophisticated and deserving of a less prosaic title, lines are still the basics of their job – ie, the white lines bordering the playing area and the imaginary line they draw across the pitch when deliberating on a player's offsideness.

The official would have been helped to do so on Wednesday by the fact that in the 62nd minute the United back four were more or less lined up straight and, for five or so seconds before Gilberto launched an excellent cross pass, Thierry Henry was yards offside. By the time Gilberto put boot to ball, Henry had narrowed the distance to the nearest defender to a yard or so, but he wasn't close enough for doubt. Attackers are now allowed to be level with the last defender, and in the mêlée it is often difficult to be certain about an offside decision, but Henry had been in splendid offside isolation for so long I can't imagine how the linesman missed it.

Perhaps we would have dwelt longer on the decision had the game not immediately made another assault on the emotions when United reacted to their indignation by surging downfield and scoring an equaliser 90 seconds later.

Then came the Campbell incident, and in the general kerfuffle the offside goal slipped gradually down the shouting order. The most extraordinary reaction has come from Sir Alex Ferguson, who has had plenty to say on the elbowing of Solskjaer but little or nothing about Henry's second goal. He was obviously delighted with the result and went around shaking hands with everyone, including the referee. He wouldn't have seen the video at that stage, and had the goal turned out to be the winner I am sure it would have been high on the list of the world's worst inhumanities.

As it was, Ferguson was happy to relinquish the role of slavering malcontent to the normally temperate Arsène Wenger and has confined himself to cutting remarks about the evils of elbowing. He has referred in passing to the goal being two yards offside, but that's all.

The press inquests have been similarly consumed by opinions on the extent of Campbell's guilt and the unlikelihood of his appeal succeeding, and it is not difficult to see why. Such controversies are part of football's appeal, and everybody can join in. You can put me down as a Campbell sympathiser. There is no doubt that he stuck out an obstructing arm as Solskjaer came panting up to his shoulder, but it was a straight arm and not the crooked one of an intending elbower. It was undoubtedly a yellow card but a red, and its consequences, was harsh.

But the offside goal carried greater implications. It could have won the game and the Premiership – it might still have a bearing on the title race. A Campbell suspension could also have an effect, but not as clear and directly. Offsides don't make sexy talking points but they can make a serious difference to a result, and they are easily avoidable.

The use of video as an arbiter of contested decisions during a swiftly moving football match is not feasible. Most of what transpires is subject to opinion, even after watching repeat after repeat. But, as we have seen in rugby, there is merit in utilising technology to rule over the most basic of all football questions: has a goal been scored?

Proceeding slowly through the labyrinths of Fifa is a suggestion that electronic assistance should be called upon when a judgement is needed about the ball crossing the goal-line. Surely, the ability to check borderline offside decisions is just as important.

Calling on the fourth official to adjudicate on an offside would not hold up the game because play stops when the ball enters the goal. It would take a fraction of the time devoured by goal celebrations for an expert eye to view the incident from various angles and give a decision. Football has long lost the smack of firm government off the field, but it could demonstrate it has the authority to declare all goals to be fair and proper – it painfully doesn't at the moment.

There are one or two other rule anomalies that need attention. One occurred in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend in which Arsenal and Campbell were also involved and which has landed the outspoken Sheffield United manager, Neil Warnock, in trouble.

I'm not in favour of managers mouthing off, but the manner in which Arsenal scored their winning goal caused the air in my lounge to go as blue as it was in Warnock's dug-out. I've seen plenty of incidents in which referees have become entangled in the play – considering the pace at which the game is played in the UK it is surprising there aren't more – but I can't recall an official actually running into a player and practically carrying him away as he was about to take possession of the ball.

I'm sure Graham Poll didn't intend to waltz away with Michael Tonge but he did, and the ball was then whisked upfield by Arsenal and into the net. The whole movement depended on so many freaks per second you could hardly isolate one as the pivotal moment, apart from Freddie Ljungberg's shot from Sylvain Wiltord's deflected pass, but none of it would have happened had Poll not so dramatically taken Tonge out of the game.

Remarkably, the laws allow for no restorative action by the ref, but there was an immediate opportunity for him to put right his clumsiness. Seconds earlier, Sol Campbell had clattered Wayne Allison from behind. It looked a foul but Poll decided otherwise, which is his prerogative, as was his further decision not to stop the game because Allison remained flat out on the ground.

The referee is allowed to stop the game only if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured. If he is slightly injured the referee must wait until the ball goes out of play. Allison was still down when Poll collided with Tonge, so the ref could have decided that the longer a player stays motionless the greater the chances that he is dead or dying, and stopped the game.

If he thought Allison was kidding he could have booked him and restarted the game with a bounce. Everyone would have been content. The tie might have even produced a different Cup finalist.

We recognise that refereeing a match is mercilessly hard, but it doesn't have to be so rigidly flawed.