General Football Discussion

[Mr_Holte]

It's the Confederations Cup final tonight. Would be nice to see a team like USA win it, but if Brazil click then you would have to say they don't stand a chance.

Then it's the big one tomorrow. England V Germany in the Under 21's final! This game is massive, regardless of wether it's under 21's or even a friendly. England HAVE to win.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Then it's the big one tomorrow. England V Germany in the Under 21's final! This game is massive, regardless of wether it's under 21's or even a friendly. England HAVE to win.

Why?

[aveslacker]

It's the Confederations Cup final tonight. Would be nice to see a team like USA win it, but if Brazil click then you would have to say they don't stand a chance.

Then it's the big one tomorrow. England V Germany in the Under 21's final! This game is massive, regardless of wether it's under 21's or even a friendly. England HAVE to win.

Lol at an under 21 match being labeled the big one.

[Orange14]

It's the Confederations Cup final tonight. Would be nice to see a team like USA win it, but if Brazil click then you would have to say they don't stand a chance.

Then it's the big one tomorrow. England V Germany in the Under 21's final! This game is massive, regardless of wether it's under 21's or even a friendly. England HAVE to win.

Lol at an under 21 match being labeled the big one.

It is after all England and they need to clutch for every straw they can.

[martinkohout]

Then it's the big one tomorrow. England V Germany in the Under 21's final! This game is massive, regardless of wether it's under 21's or even a friendly. England HAVE to win.

Um... is 4-0 "massive" enough?

[Orange14]

Madrid now buy Benzema from Lyon for 37 million Euros. They must have gotten a no interest bank loan. Sneijder reportedly said he will not accept a transfer and wants to fight for his place on the squad. Huntelaar is as good as gone (or if he stays he won't play much given all the other strikers) but for how much. I doubt they will recover the money they spent for him last December. This is really rotten stuff given the shady finances involved. I hope the team gets relegated (though that's a long shot!).

[martinkohout]

Madrid now buy Benzema from Lyon for 37 million Euros. They must have gotten a no interest bank loan. Sneijder reportedly said he will not accept a transfer and wants to fight for his place on the squad. Huntelaar is as good as gone (or if he stays he won't play much given all the other strikers) but for how much. I doubt they will recover the money they spent for him last December. This is really rotten stuff given the shady finances involved. I hope the team gets relegated (though that's a long shot!).

Yes, this is really quite absurd.

Meanwhile Man City, having just landed Santa Cruz, is still apparently planning to throw heaps of money at Eto'o and/or Tevez, or so they say.

I understand there are all kinds of legal/political reasons why FIFA can't do anything about this, but this is actually making me kind of sympathetic to Sepp Blatter, which is not a position I ever imagined I'd find myself in.

[aveslacker]

Madrid now buy Benzema from Lyon for 37 million Euros. They must have gotten a no interest bank loan. Sneijder reportedly said he will not accept a transfer and wants to fight for his place on the squad. Huntelaar is as good as gone (or if he stays he won't play much given all the other strikers) but for how much. I doubt they will recover the money they spent for him last December. This is really rotten stuff given the shady finances involved. I hope the team gets relegated (though that's a long shot!).

Of course the last time Madrid tried something like this it failed miserably. That's not too much to ask for.

[DanK]

I'm not sure if this has been covered in the past (hell, maybe even by me and I don't remember!), but I have been meaning to post this for a while.

I'm interested to see what you guys might change if we ran FIFA, not so much on the business side of things, but more rules/changes in the game. As much as I do love it, there are some serious flaws, or at the very least some tweaks that could be applied.

I'm not sure these would all work, but I would be interested in seeing them introduced/trialled at some competitions.

#1: GET OFFICIAL TIME KEEPERS (that isn't the referee).
This is something that has bugged me for probably 20 years. I remember writing to 'World Soccer' all they way back then. Football is one of the only sports where the time isn't monitored by someone that isn't part of the game (well that I can think of). Time (no pun intended) and time again, there are games where clearly there should be 6 or 7 mins of stoppage time, and we get the standard 3 minutes. And what is with the idea that its not full time while someone is attacking? WTF? If time is up. It's up.

I think the basics of this is whenever the ball is stopped (free kick, throw in, goal kick), time is not started again until the ball is moving (ie: legally back in the playing field). I think this would indirectly help with divers who roll on the ground feigning injury. Hey you can lie on the ground all you want, you aren't wasting time. We don't start until you get up. Which brings me to my next point...

#2: KEEP PLAYING WHILE A PLAYER IS INJURED.
Now remember these are just ideas and thoughts, and maybe never work in the real world. But I would like to see this trialled. It might be difficult, especially if its in the penalty box, so maybe make an exception. That play only stops for an injured player if the injury occurs in the box. This would definately stop those morons/cheats who pretend to be injured as they would directly be hurting their team.

If a player does stay down from actually being hurt, allow 1 medical staff to come on the ground to treat the player, under the eye of the 4th official. If the player requires a stretcher or is in serious need of medical assistance, then stop play when possible (again officially stopping time too).

This might be a terrible idea, would the medic get in the way? But I would say 80% of "injuries" could be fixed on the ground, and maybe, just maybe players will realise falling on the ground, rolling around from the smallest touch, is not worth the effort while play goes on around you, and it may just get them up on their own.

#3: THE 6-5 RULE.
For the love of football, FIFA find a way to get the clubs to agree to this. 5 foreigners max. How many English players are playing in the top clubs regularly?

#4: TRIAL BY VIDEO.
This is sort of in now I guess, but its done incredibly poorly. Every game should be watched after the event and cards given for offensives that were missed or done behind play. It works in other sports very nicely.

#5: NO OFFSIDE:
Wont happen, but I would like to see a few games without it. Just to see...

#6: GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY.
Come on FIFA this is a no brainer.

Again, I'm not saying that these will work, or are even good ideas. Just my opinion. But I remember when the no backpass rule came in, and the negative comments about how it will destroy the game, players will just boot the ball out of the stadium, blah blah blah. Don't be soft cocks FIFA. Try something and see.

[aveslacker]

I'm not sure if this has been covered in the past (hell, maybe even by me and I don't remember!), but I have been meaning to post this for a while.

I'm interested to see what you guys might change if we ran FIFA, not so much on the business side of things, but more rules/changes in the game. As much as I do love it, there are some serious flaws, or at the very least some tweaks that could be applied.

I'm not sure these would all work, but I would be interested in seeing them introduced/trialled at some competitions.

#1: GET OFFICIAL TIME KEEPERS (that isn't the referee).
This is something that has bugged me for probably 20 years. I remember writing to 'World Soccer' all they way back then. Football is one of the only sports where the time isn't monitored by someone that isn't part of the game (well that I can think of). Time (no pun intended) and time again, there are games where clearly there should be 6 or 7 mins of stoppage time, and we get the standard 3 minutes. And what is with the idea that its not full time while someone is attacking? WTF? If time is up. It's up.

I think the basics of this is whenever the ball is stopped (free kick, throw in, goal kick), time is not started again until the ball is moving (ie: legally back in the playing field). I think this would indirectly help with divers who roll on the ground feigning injury. Hey you can lie on the ground all you want, you aren't wasting time. We don't start until you get up. Which brings me to my next point...

#2: KEEP PLAYING WHILE A PLAYER IS INJURED.
Now remember these are just ideas and thoughts, and maybe never work in the real world. But I would like to see this trialled. It might be difficult, especially if its in the penalty box, so maybe make an exception. That play only stops for an injured player if the injury occurs in the box. This would definately stop those morons/cheats who pretend to be injured as they would directly be hurting their team.

If a player does stay down from actually being hurt, allow 1 medical staff to come on the ground to treat the player, under the eye of the 4th official. If the player requires a stretcher or is in serious need of medical assistance, then stop play when possible (again officially stopping time too).

This might be a terrible idea, would the medic get in the way? But I would say 80% of "injuries" could be fixed on the ground, and maybe, just maybe players will realise falling on the ground, rolling around from the smallest touch, is not worth the effort while play goes on around you, and it may just get them up on their own.

#3: THE 6-5 RULE.
For the love of football, FIFA find a way to get the clubs to agree to this. 5 foreigners max. How many English players are playing in the top clubs regularly?

#4: TRIAL BY VIDEO.
This is sort of in now I guess, but its done incredibly poorly. Every game should be watched after the event and cards given for offensives that were missed or done behind play. It works in other sports very nicely.

#5: NO OFFSIDE:
Wont happen, but I would like to see a few games without it. Just to see...

#6: GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY.
Come on FIFA this is a no brainer.

Again, I'm not saying that these will work, or are even good ideas. Just my opinion. But I remember when the no backpass rule came in, and the negative comments about how it will destroy the game, players will just boot the ball out of the stadium, blah blah blah. Don't be soft cocks FIFA. Try something and see.

#1 is obvious imo. Works in rugby, so why not soccer?

I'm in general agreement with the rest, especially 4, especially if they can give retroactive yellows for dives and remove them when a player is yellowed because his opponent dove.

I'd also like to add another official on the pitch. Ice hockey has more than one official to patrol a sport with 12 players on the ice, so why should soccer have one to patrol 22?

[DanK]

...
I'd also like to add another official on the pitch. Ice hockey has more than one official to patrol a sport with 12 players on the ice, so why should soccer have one to patrol 22?

Yep. Good point. Agreed. The game is faster than it used to be. This would help the refs.

[Orange14]

I'm not sure if this has been covered in the past (hell, maybe even by me and I don't remember!), but I have been meaning to post this for a while.

I'm interested to see what you guys might change if we ran FIFA, not so much on the business side of things, but more rules/changes in the game. As much as I do love it, there are some serious flaws, or at the very least some tweaks that could be applied.

I'm not sure these would all work, but I would be interested in seeing them introduced/trialled at some competitions.

#3: THE 6-5 RULE.
For the love of football, FIFA find a way to get the clubs to agree to this. 5 foreigners max. How many English players are playing in the top clubs regularly?

#4: TRIAL BY VIDEO.
This is sort of in now I guess, but its done incredibly poorly. Every game should be watched after the event and cards given for offensives that were missed or done behind play. It works in other sports very nicely.

#5: NO OFFSIDE:
Wont happen, but I would like to see a few games without it. Just to see...

#6: GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY.
Come on FIFA this is a no brainer.

#3 is definitely needed and could be an easy solution to the outrageous transfer fees that are currently going on. I think some leagues will suffer because they rely on so much foreign tallent (witness Arsenal who may only have two or three English players on the match day team. #4 is a no braner and is sometimes used to reeduce a red card but I'm not sure how often. of course some rules will have to be put in place about how to implement this. #5 won't happen as written. However, one experiment worth trying again is what the old North American Soccer League did in the 1970s. This was the first professional league in the US and most of the players were late in career Europeans (Cruyff and Neeskens were the two most notable Dutch players). Rather than haveing the offside line at midfield it as about 35 yards (I think it was measured in yards as the US is anti-metric system) from the goal line. this defensive ine cannot come up field as much for fear of being caught out. I don't know if they did a comparison as to whether more goals were scored but they did need FIFA permission to do the experiment. As I recall it only lasted one year. worth trying again. #6 is obvious and the recent confederations Cup match between the US and Brazil is a good example as to why it's needed (an obvious Brazil goal was disallowed).

[Tom_]

#4

Couldn't agree more... Dan, you and I have seen how it works in AFL. Imagine what would happen if yellow cards were handed out retrospectively for diving!

#5

Out of interest, what's your thinking behind this one? My interpretation of that rule (based on nothing at all except my own musings) is that it makes the game MORE attacking because it allows the defenders to play up the park when their team's in possession...

[DanK]

#5

Out of interest, what's your thinking behind this one? My interpretation of that rule (based on nothing at all except my own musings) is that it makes the game MORE attacking because it allows the defenders to play up the park when their team's in possession...

Just something I would be interested in how it effects the game. I don't actually disagree with the rule as it is. I don't think football has a problem with the current way it is played with offside, but I think it would be an interesting 'what if'.

Its was really added for comments, but the others I would really love to see.

Actually with my 6-5 rule, I mentioned FIFA, but I think this would be UEFA issue, as its only EU players that have free reign.

[martinkohout]

I'm in general agreement with all of these, except #5; I don't really think the offside rule is a problem now, except of course when they blow a call against Ajax.

And while of course there are some obvious misses and extremely close calls - humans being only, um, human - I'm amazed at how often, upon viewing a slo-mo replay, the officials get it right.

The 6-5 rule, or something like it, is a must. Betraying my ignorance (again! ), but what is the current status of this one? Platini called for it months ago, but of course it was going to be a political nightmare with the EU....

[SPL]

Not sure there is real problem with off side but the others should all come in.

6+5 should come in but I want all u18's banned from being sold abroad. the stealing of 15year olds is
a disgrace.

[rjf1]

I'm not sure if this has been covered in the past (hell, maybe even by me and I don't remember!), but I have been meaning to post this for a while.

I'm interested to see what you guys might change if we ran FIFA, not so much on the business side of things, but more rules/changes in the game. As much as I do love it, there are some serious flaws, or at the very least some tweaks that could be applied...

Here are a couple that I have thought about for a while -- as you say they are just points for comment:

1. Goalie can't handle any kind of back pass (headers, etc.).
2. If the goalie plays the ball outside of the box he cannot bring the ball back into the box to pick it up -- must continue playing it with his feet (etc.) until he gets rid of it.
3. Move the offside line back from midfield to 30 m from the goal line.
4. Goal line judge (like in ice hockey). Only the goal line judge decides what counts as a goal.
5. No more than 5 defending players (including the goalie) behind a line 20 meters out from the goal before the ball is played behind that line (try to put a crimp into negative football).

[martinkohout]

"Real chief Perez wants Euro Super League" (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... pe&cc=5901)

"We have to agree a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best - something that does not happen in the Champions League," Perez told Spanish television.

Perez added, however, that he hoped his proposed format could be implemented "without abandoning the national leagues".

WTF? I mean, I know he needs to make a lot of money after all these signings, but how long are we gonna have to listen to this arrogant a**hole's load of crap?

[DanK]

"Real chief Perez wants Euro Super League" (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... pe&cc=5901)

"We have to agree a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best - something that does not happen in the Champions League," Perez told Spanish television.

Perez added, however, that he hoped his proposed format could be implemented "without abandoning the national leagues".

WTF? I mean, I know he needs to make a lot of money after all these signings, but how long are we gonna have to listen to this arrogant a**hole's load of crap?

This league is inevitable. They don't give a shit about the Spanish league. They want to make money. The best way to do that is to have a break away league full of the top clubs. If this doesn't happen within the next 5 to 10 years I would be very surprised.

[Orange14]

"Real chief Perez wants Euro Super League" (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... pe&cc=5901)

"We have to agree a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best - something that does not happen in the Champions League," Perez told Spanish television.

Perez added, however, that he hoped his proposed format could be implemented "without abandoning the national leagues".

WTF? I mean, I know he needs to make a lot of money after all these signings, but how long are we gonna have to listen to this arrogant a**hole's load of crap?

This league is inevitable. They don't give a shit about the Spanish league. They want to make money. The best way to do that is to have a break away league full of the top clubs. If this doesn't happen within the next 5 to 10 years I would be very surprised.

HOw will relegation and promotion work? Who determines which teams are in and out of the "Super League?" Is it based on club payroll, club income, or club debt? If the latter, Madrid, ManU, Liverpool all automatically qualify. I remember several years ago there was talk of a "mid-tier" league with the top Dutch, Belgium, and Scottish teams as each of their leagues are on the small side but nothing ever came of it (thank goodness as the Dutch league has now become super competitive).

I don't think this is inevitable because we are reaching the limit of what sponsors will pay for television rights. How will this be sandwiched into the traditional league fixtures? Will the teams completely break away from their own associations.

[DanK]

HOw will relegation and promotion work? Who determines which teams are in and out of the "Super League?" Is it based on club payroll, club income, or club debt? If the latter, Madrid, ManU, Liverpool all automatically qualify. I remember several years ago there was talk of a "mid-tier" league with the top Dutch, Belgium, and Scottish teams as each of their leagues are on the small side but nothing ever came of it (thank goodness as the Dutch league has now become super competitive).

I don't think this is inevitable because we are reaching the limit of what sponsors will pay for television rights. How will this be sandwiched into the traditional league fixtures? Will the teams completely break away from their own associations.

There will be no relegation and promotion. If it happens it will be the most powerful clubs (not just in terms of money - think the G14 or whatever they are called now). I'm not sure what form it will take, but I can see it as a complete break from their associations and possibly UEFA. Similar to the scenario with the Premier League initially.

I guess it depends on who has the most power UEFA or the clubs. If UEFA hadn't increased representation to the CL for England, Spain, Italy, Germany, it probably would have already happened.

[The Purple Cow]

#3: THE 6-5 RULE.
For the love of football, FIFA find a way to get the clubs to agree to this. 5 foreigners max. How many English players are playing in the top clubs regularly?

This is clearly a breach of European law - a constraint on trade.

There's no way on Earth the E.U. would allow football to create a precedent for prevention of the free-flow of capital and labour. That would go against the E.U.'s entire raison d'etre.

[martinkohout]

"Berlusconi: Transfer fees must return to normal" (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... pe&cc=5901)

Ahahahahahaha!

[Blind3]

Is this the same Berlusconi whose side just raked in alot of $$ on the Kaka transfer ? Next , he'll be pontificating about marital fidelity.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Is this the same Berlusconi whose side just raked in alot of $$ on the Kaka transfer ? Next , he'll be pontificating about marital fidelity.

He needs to save some cash to pay for his lawyers "overtime"