A spectator’s certainty costs less than a player’s split-second choice.

From the stands you get time, a second look, and no consequences for being wrong. The person on the pitch had a fraction of a second, one body, and everyone else moving. That difference is not a small one, and it is entirely invisible from where you are sitting. Confidence is always cheapest for whoever was not deciding.

Catch yourself the next time you are sure about somebody else’s call, at work or in a family argument as much as in sport. Ask what they knew at the moment they had to act. It rarely changes the verdict completely, but it usually softens the tone.