[Football] England v Switzerland

[McTavish]

The VAR "offsides" I find particularly irksome. There used to be a rule that level was considered onside - now you can literally have a pube hanging out that plays you offside. Absolutely ridiculous.

Offside is a law that was ultimately introduced to prevent players from goalhanging. Its not supposed to stop play when someone is level, but thats what we've got now, down to millimetres. Just another piece of shittery introduced to stop people scoring goals.

There still is a rule that level is onside, it's just that with VAR it is possible to tell exactly what is and isn't level.

I agree that VAR is dreadful but there is no way to say, "that was pretty close so we'll let it go" as you then need to define what "pretty close" is. The only way to avoid the "pube" judgement is to exclude offside from VAR which would take us back to clearly onside goals being disallowed and vice versa.

The VAR genie is out of the bottle and unfortunately there is no way to put it back.

 

[Hiney]

This team will only get better.

Wan Bissaka will come into the full-back position, Foden will continue to develop.

We are in good shape

 

[boik]

This team will only get better.

Wan Bissaka will come into the full-back position, Foden will continue to develop.

We are in good shape

AWB in ahead of TAA? Seriously?

 

[Hiney]

AWB in ahead of TAA? Seriously?

Maybe not right now, but AWB is going to be a superb player

 

[Uter]

There still is a rule that level is onside, it's just that with VAR it is possible to tell exactly what is and isn't level.

I agree that VAR is dreadful but there is no way to say, "that was pretty close so we'll let it go" as you then need to define what "pretty close" is. The only way to avoid the "pube" judgement is to exclude offside from VAR which would take us back to clearly onside goals being disallowed and vice versa.

The VAR genie is out of the bottle and unfortunately there is no way to put it back.

IMO prior to VAR linesmen use to incorrectly flag for offside and prevent legitimate goals a lot more often than they failed to flag for an actual offside in a build up to a goal. Whenever linesmen weren't sure they tended to be conservative and flag. So I think VAR will increase the number of goals scored.

However, the perception will be that VAR is reducing the number of goals because you only tend to notice the ones that are wiped out. The ones where the linesman would have flagged incorrectly, but now keep their flag down for because of VAR will be invisible.

 

[Uter]

This team will only get better.

Wan Bissaka will come into the full-back position, Foden will continue to develop.

We are in good shape

AWB will be a great back-up for TAA. I think I'd always favour TAA because he's so good in attack.

Jude Bellingham at Birmingham is one to watch over the next few years.

 

[Justice]

Maybe not right now, but AWB is going to be a superb player

Looked shit against us tbh.

England won’t win anything with Southgate in charge clueless.

 

[BN41Albion]

Looked shit against us tbh.

England won’t win anything with Southgate in charge clueless.

Wow. We've come a very long way since he took over in all areas

 

[Weststander]

Looked shit against us tbh.

England won’t win anything with Southgate in charge clueless.

Bring back Roy Hodgson.

 

[Justice]

Wow. We've come a very long way since he took over in all areas

Have we really though? World Cup we beat a few African sides and a middling Championship Sweden team. Possibly if Southgate hadn’t of let the Croatian midfield run riot we could of sneaked to the final he didn’t recognise the danger in the second half.

France would of destroyed England so probably best we lost.

 

[McTavish]

IMO prior to VAR linesmen use to incorrectly flag for offside and prevent legitimate goals a lot more often than they failed to flag for an actual offside in a build up to a goal. Whenever linesmen weren't sure they tended to be conservative and flag. So I think VAR will increase the number of goals scored.

However, the perception will be that VAR is reducing the number of goals because you only tend to notice the ones that are wiped out. The ones where the linesman would have flagged incorrectly, but now keep their flag down for because of VAR will be invisible.

I think that you are right that more goals will be scored but not for the reason you give. I'm sure that there are stats somewhere and it would be interesting to see them but for me there are four really difficult types of call:

1. Defenders are moving out at speed and attacker running on to a through ball. These often look miles offside but are not, so I think there will be more goals scored due to VAR.
2. Attacker on one side of the pitch near the assistant and defender on the other. The attacker is often flagged offside incorrectly as the assistant either doesn't spot the defender (very difficult to look at three things at once particularly when one of them is close to you) or struggles to see that the defender is closer to the goal than the attacker. Again, more goals scored due to VAR.
3. Goal scored from a rebound or save, particularly when the ball has come from a long way out and the assistant has to consider where everyone was when the ball was initially played. Again, I suspect that these are called offside more often than they should be.
4. Really, really close ones that don't come in to any of the above categories. Here, unlike you, I think that VAR will rule out goals that would previously have been given, particularly when it is only the attackers foot which is in an offside position (and I think that the law may change so that only the torso is considered for offside purposes to stop these "big toe is offside" decisions), but I think that over all that VAR will result in more goals.

The fans' perception will depend on whether the calls are for or aginst their team but I know that I will get sick of Alan Shearer (and others) whining "how is that a clear and obvious error?"

 

[Uter]

I think that you are right that more goals will be scored but not for the reason you give. I'm sure that there are stats somewhere and it would be interesting to see them but for me there are four really difficult types of call:

1. Defenders are moving out at speed and attacker running on to a through ball. These often look miles offside but are not, so I think there will be more goals scored due to VAR.
2. Attacker on one side of the pitch near the assistant and defender on the other. The attacker is often flagged offside incorrectly as the assistant either doesn't spot the defender (very difficult to look at three things at once particularly when one of them is close to you) or struggles to see that the defender is closer to the goal than the attacker. Again, more goals scored due to VAR.
3. Goal scored from a rebound or save, particularly when the ball has come from a long way out and the assistant has to consider where everyone was when the ball was initially played. Again, I suspect that these are called offside more often than they should be.
4. Really, really close ones that don't come in to any of the above categories. Here, unlike you, I think that VAR will rule out goals that would previously have been given, particularly when it is only the attackers foot which is in an offside position (and I think that the law may change so that only the torso is considered for offside purposes to stop these "big toe is offside" decisions), but I think that over all that VAR will result in more goals.

The fans' perception will depend on whether the calls are for or aginst their team but I know that I will get sick of Alan Shearer (and others) whining "how is that a clear and obvious error?"

Fair points. I think I probably had the first scenario in my head as they are so hard to get right. Getting those wrong must lead to a lot of goals being disallowed, or whistles before the forward gets his shot away. I get peoples antipathy towards it, but on balance I think it's a positive step forward.