[Football] Cheating - pretending to be injured to disrupt the opposition

[BrightonCottager]

Respectfully, I disagree @Horses Arse . It was interesting listening to a Fulham podcast last night that emphasised how well the Albion played, how our initial formation with Bobby DR playing as a false 9 (to repeat, not the first time he's done this) couldn't get going and how we made so many mistakes. We could not get the ball or out of our own half as the attached stats demonstrate - Albion had some of the best stats against us all season. When we got the ball we did try to get down the wings but there wasn't the threat in the middle in the usual and imposing form of Mitro. If we'd been playing for 0-0, our 2 subs would been defensive (Duffy and Toisin), not attackers. Thank god for that, IMO. For the record, I and most Fulham fans think you'll finish above us.

 

[Horses Arse]

Respectfully, I disagree @Horses Arse . It was interesting listening to a Fulham podcast last night that emphasised how well the Albion played, how our initial formation with Bobby DR playing as a false 9 (to repeat, not the first time he's done this) couldn't get going and how we made so many mistakes. We could not get the ball or out of our own half as the attached stats demonstrate - Albion had some of the best stats against us all season. When we got the ball we did try to get down the wings but there wasn't the threat in the middle in the usual and imposing form of Mitro. If we'd been playing for 0-0, our 2 subs would been defensive (Duffy and Toisin), not attackers. Thank god for that, IMO. For the record, I and most Fulham fans think you'll finish above us.

Could obviously have been down to us but after that game at craven cottage I find that hard to believe. Surely fulham aren't that reliant on mitro?

The play acting though. Still pissed off about it now

 

[Audax]

I've thought similar things in the past - thinking the ref and the assistances should review the match (that way the ref remains the authority of that game, things are still judged by the same ref's opinion), not just to address errors, but because I think it could be a helpful tool for the ref to analyse themselves and improve their own performance by picking up on their own tendancies and habits.

To your second point, I think my thinking was via tracking - if the ref is constantly making the same corrections game after game, that would highlight something their bosses might want to look into.

I'm not averse to the ref from the match being involved, but I think they need to be a minority voice in whatever panel conducts the review. Need to avoid issues such as confirmation bias and own-arse-covering affecting the viability of the reviews. And we've all seen how, historically, the referees will not admit mistakes unless confronted with impossible-to-dispute evidence.

So for me, the review panels need to be a majority of as-independent-as-possible people. While still having the skillset and knowledge to provide accurate assessments on a consistent basis. So perhaps drawing in ex-refs from outside the UK, or from other sports (preferably those with better VAR-type implementations) but can show they understand the rules of football. Obvious place to go to would be the Aussie AFL - where post match video reviews have been a thing for decades.

 

[Acker79]

I have the Hull/West Brom game on in the background. A Hull player just tried that 'I've walked a long distance on the pitch, but I'm gonna sit down just here for treatment' (to 'get treatment' while the sub gets ready and gets final instructions'. The ref made him get up and walk the two yards to the side of the pitch and got the game going again.

More of this please!