Football often provides us with blunders never seen before in a game that is ever-changing.
So when Ryan Sessegnon looked on both dazed and confused at the Vitality Stadium on Monday, many of us were left to ponder what kind of technical error had led to his bewilderment.
Marco Silva, the Fulham, looked just as displeased as he tried his best to drag the 24-year-old onto the pitch. FourFourTwo looks at how Fulham were robbed of a late attacking threat against the Cherries and how the situation arose...
Why was Ryan Sessegnon taken off and just what happened regarding his substitution?
So, the game reaches the 59th minute and Silva opts to make a triple sub as Fulham chase a way back into the game with half an hour left.
He decides to bring on Raul Jimenez, Tom Cairney and Adama Traore, with the exiting players appearing to be Rodrigo Muniz, Sander Berge and… Sessegnon.
As Sessegnon heads for the bench, Berge approaches to be replaced, but all of a sudden, something doesn't look right. It becomes clear that Sessegnon is not the player that Silva wanted to take off.
Silva grabs the former Tottenham player back onto the pitch by his shirt, only for the officiating team, led by Michael Oliver, to indicate he cannot return to the pitch due to his substitution being ratified by the fourth official, Tim Robinson.
Silva, Oliver, Fulham's assistant manager Goncalo Santos and club captain Tom Cairney all then begin to discuss the matter. Robinson - the fourth official - shows Oliver the piece of paper with the changes made, and Sessegnon is ordered back to the bench.
The linesman then placed his arm around Sessegnon, clearly aware of the ordeal. As it transpired, there was a miscommunication between the two and three named by the Fulham bench, with Sasa Lukic the intended player to have made way for Traore.
Silva began to clear up the matter in his post-match press conference, adding: "He (the fourth official, Robinson) said about number two and number three, that was the confusion between Ryan (Sessegnon, Fulham’s No. 30) and Robinson.
“We had enough time to correct it when I saw Sessegnon out. I tried to correct it, [but] they saw that it was a mistake from a lack of communication and he (Robinson) decided not to let us correct it.”
What will have further incensed Silva is the fact Bournemouth’s win meant they leapfrogged Fulham in the Premier League table, moving up to eighth while Fulham drop to ninth.
A bad day for the Cottagers, who are next in Premier League action against Chelsea.
