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[Football] Beating the offside trap and VAR



Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patreon
Oct 8, 2003
49,331
Faversham
This season the rule seems to be that you can be offside if you don't interfere with play. We saw recently with Liverpool that not interfering means simply not touching the ball. Liverpool were awarded a goal when a defender attempted to intercept a pass to an offside Salah (would have been deemed interfering last season) and the defender diverted the ball into danger and another Liverpool player scored.

In the Leicester Spartak game on now the last two Leicester goals involved a player (Iheanacho?) running into an offside position on the right drawing a defender and allowing the young new striker to receive the ball on the left (onside), run on, and score. It looks like a deliberate tactic to me. We need to watch out for it (and try it ourselves).

There will certainly be a rule change in the summar to stop this one imagines.

Funny old game (etc.).
 


Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Aug 25, 2011
63,376
Withdean area
The rollercoaster of rule makers/interpreters increasingly titting around with offside.

One extreme to another, last season goals rules out by the VAR slide rule for a purported millimetres offside with any almost part of the body.

Widening this, Suarez last night deliberately stood 10 yards beyond every defender whenever AM attacked, I know they’re some EPL masters at this ‘art’ …. can’t remember who, normally strikers with less pace ….. Kane?

Obviously planning to be onside when the final pass of the move is made.

But, shirley the striker’s presence has some effect on the concentration and judgement of the CB’s, pushing the defensive team back?

The bottom line - construed to give more goals and razzmatazz for consumers in Singapore (Maupay’s fan club) and the States.
 
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Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
16,542
Fiveways
A few things:
-- Dunk indicated that the most difficult opponent he'd faced was Aguero, precisely because he stood behind Dunk (in an offside position), so he might be one of the forerunners, which makes sense to me given Guardiola's obsession with space
-- there were a couple of Leicester goals ruled out against us that we're given as offside, when I thought that if there was an offence (which is open to debate, but unlikely on here because we're only allowed to debate things that go against us) it was interfering with play/the goalkeeper rather than offside
-- unlike most, I welcomed the introduction of VAR. How it was implemented for the first two PL seasons was nothing other than a f&%$ing disaster, and was the triumph of pedantry, most aptly depicted by them playing with their oh-so-advanced rulers for ages. There are problems with VAR this season in terms of decision-making (there would be problems with or without VAR), but it's so much better than the past two seasons.
-- broadly, any rule change that results in more goals has to be (at least initially) viewed favourably. I suspect that this is a welcome development. It'll make the offside rule more complex, but that's not (just) down to VAR, complexity in the offside rule has been with us for decades.
-- to WS' question, if it does push CBs/defenders back, all well and good in my book. The stretching of the pitch makes for a more entertaining and attacking game in my book.
-- and HWT is probably right to say that the brightest managers are exploiting the new rule already. Potter and Maups will be in discussion, that's if they haven't done so extensively already.
 


beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,264
the examples are not to do with VAR but the nuance of the offside rule? this interfering with play has always been a bit vague in some cases, then you get a different direction from football authorities, then the refs interpretation... all wrong, offside should be offside, end of.
 


Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Nov 15, 2008
31,763
Brighton
I don't think there will ever be an offside rule that everyone is happy with. It's been tweeked so much, but back in the day when you were in an offside position you were offside if the ball was played, regardless of 'interferring with play/an opponent'. But some people didn't like it, and I think since then there's been near constant tweaking, trying to find that magic spot. And I think the exchanges between Joleon Lescott, Peter Crouch and Peter Walton last night highlighted this. Joleon was adamant it should be offside, Crouch noted he'd be upset if he was the goal scorer and it got chalked off, Walton seemed to be trying to explain and argue in favour of the decision as part of the referee's union without outright saying he disagreed with it, with his final salvo being that oft' repeated argument about wanting to see goals. It's an argument that was made throughout last season when VAR was chalking them off.

There are far too many opinions and footballing philosophies for any approach to anything in football keeping everyone happy. Offside, VAR, fixtures, refereeing, tactics and so on. Someone will always be unhappy and with the always connected, internet/social media driven society we live in, there will always be a soapbox and an audience for those grievances.
 



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