The General Football Thread

I think it is significant that the UEFA President has come up with the idea, and not FIFA. Barcelona and Real Madrid have been making noises about the money going to the Premier League for some team [conveniently forgetting that they hoover up all the money in Spain between them] and I know Barcelona think this is unfair [oh dear, what a shame]. But these 'proposals' wouldn't aid Barcelona and Real Madrid anymore than it would knock ManU, ManC, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc.., in my opinion.

 

RIP Ronnie. Hell of a dedication to one club.

 

Well, the 'video ref' has just been used for the first time in football.

Antoine Griezmann scores for France against Spain, the on-field referee goes to the video ref to check for offside and the goal is ruled out for offside.

Here it is!

 

Technology vindicated I'd say. Just imagine if that had been in use during the League Cup Final.? As Vin said in the Cherries thread, 3-3, only they mysteriously awarded the trophy to ManU.
Of course, I await to see how consistent they are in implementing the tech, but really, how much was the match held up to obtain the correct decision, eh.? Isn't it worth a few extra seconds to be sure.?

 

And here it is being used again - in the same game - but to review and then allow a goal to stand.

 

It was still quicker than the length of goal celebration, so it didn't even cost that!

 

There you go.

 

And there you go again.

Personally, I think certain people in the football world have envisaged a technological nightmare, when really it is the stuff of dreams almost realised. The only issue is the human element in the decision making. That's still required at this moment, and the rules will have to catch up as a consequence.

For example, if attackers and defenders are inline, which part of the body is considered offside, should it become forward of the offside line.? Any part of the attackers' arms.? Not sure that's clear as of this moment. And it should be, because suddenly we can analyse in much greater detail.

 

The way forward, but at this moment it just makes me feel resentful. Still angry one month on.

 

May be wrong (yes, I admit can be ), but I think arms don't count because you can't score with them.....but chest does.

 

The offside line is set by whatever is furthest towards his goal line out of the head, body or foot of the second-last defender. The attacker is offside if any of his head, body or foot is then closer to the goal line:

• any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent
• The hands and arms of all players, including the goalkeepers, are not considered.

 

Well that's good. The rule appears to be quite clear as regards the body of the attacking player who touches the ball last before it enters the goal.

Posters probably know that I have shouted for technology to aid officials on here pretty much unceasingly. In fact, I've probably done it ever since I first commented on a sports orientated forum, so that's over 20 years, and I've thought the same for a lot longer than that. It has always been possible ever since Instant Video Replay way back when, but there hasn't been the will for systems to be developed and it would have been relatively very expensive back then, but it would have got cheaper over time. I do kind of understand people's frustrations on what the tech' brings. But the two examples above though surely show that VARs is a good thing overall. It makes the game fairer. Not completely, by any means, so there's plenty left to argue about, but closer to it. There were two clear decisions that the officials got wrong, but they were very close, so their errors were understandable. The technology corrected those errors. It is cheap enough these days and reliable because it has all the access to views, and more, that any broadcaster could use, and it's all solid state. My only issue with it will be the human element. What will be the level of consistency that emerges, because the zooming camera is going to pick out knees and toes and foreheads in front of the last defender, that the officials never could. Just how much is going to be deemed offside or will a millimetre be enough? This is the first generation of VARs to go into use, after a huge amount of testing. It will undoubtedly get better and faster, and quite quickly too. Lampard's disallowed England goal was said to have been the spur to adopt goalline technology, and frankly that has been a no-brainer success since. This is different because there are people involved, so we'll see. I'd like to think that Manolo's goal was the spur to set off the decision to adopt VARs, but fortunately the decision was cold by the time he was incorrectly denied his goal. At least it put the subject in people's minds in a timely way. What a shame it wasn't in use just a few weeks back, because it might well have been a very different outcome about which direction the League Cup trophy was heading.

 

And guess who makes VAR systems? The people up near Winchester. Hawk-Eye.

 

Especially in the ladies game.

 

Going to be biased towards Saints then?

 

Wouldn't that be great. Especially if they could digitally move Shane Long back into an onside position just after he scores and the ref refers the incident.

 

What would have happened if the linesman gave the goal but it was actually offside? Could the defending team demand the ref talks to the video assistant?

 

That's exactly what happened in the first example.

 

Makes me feel better about a certain statue of ours.

 

I was in a taxi in Madeira when the driver slowed down and pointed out a laundrette. 'That used to be owned by Ronaldo's Aunt', he said.

He's quite a hero there.