First implementation in the Prem - the armpit offsides
This season - overlapping lines are now onside, which has allowed goals to stand that last season would’ve been chalked off (which naturally means Stirling’s offside goal was more offside then many other contentious offsides)
Club World Cup - tested the semi-automated system, which will be fully used in the blood stained world cup
It’s here to stay, with the subjectivity elements (like where to mark and interpret the lines) getting reduced as time goes by. Where was the spirit of the offside law back in 2013-14 when Raheem was in red against the same opposition?
Some may argue that only those types of blatant onside/offsides should be checked. I remember back in 1992 when some (okay, not that many) thought the back pass rule, although acknowledging it would speed up the game, would nevertheless alter the essence of football radically, so was dead against it.
And no one is wrong. You feel what you feel. What’s a good change for one person, may be the final nail in the coffin to another. I also get what you mean with the spirit - take that Bamford offside when he points. But that’s where the debates can be had and the system adjusted, which is it doing, to try to settle on something that works for the overall betterment/fairness of the game.
We still need something that can help referees see better!
How the heck did Taylor miss that corner? Mo’s shot hit the defender’s hip, altered trajectory by some distance, and went around the post. One of the more obvious corners you will ever see.
On VAR it remains a work in progress, but it is getting better.
My current bugbear is the lino not flagging. We play opponents offside, high line, well drilled, we have evolved it way beyond what George Graham ever did. It is by design to condense the pitch. It is an excellent tactic that we do so well.
With the play being allowed to go on, it looks like we are giving up chances that we are not. Further, with the play being allowed to go on we are potentially risking injury trying to retrieve a situation that should not be progressing in the first place.
Some thought needs to be given on that, as the late or non flagging is a bunch of balls.
Some linesman do it very well others don’t, one of the guys who does Oliver’s games is absolutely brilliant , saying that you shouldn’t need VAR to judge that it was just a woeful decision.
This is a fair assessment I think. I’d have been amazed to see Klopp drop Henderson for this one. Whilst both him and Naby have their pros and cons, Henderson has been shown to be that much more reliable and consistent.
I think what it highlights is that need for another midfielder you’d have no qualms about starting in that game. We’ve basically got four for three places. Milner isn’t going to start given his age, Jones and Elliott for their in-experience and Ox seems like he’s done at the very top, at least as a starter for us. With Henderson’s age, and Thiago and Naby both having fitness issues could really do with one more starting option in the middle this coming summer.
Don’t worry about that. We watch all our games so we know what’s going on. Let those who think we’re being cut open wallow in their delusion.
As @mattyhurst has said, some assistants are much better at this. As you say, injuries could be caused. But the biggest casualty for a team like ours is the effort spent in recovering the offside ball that would have been better conserved for our forward play. Remember that match against the Old Toilet team a year or two back, when there were like a thousand offside calls. TAA must have made about 50 extra sprints in that game just to get back for nothing.
Eyeing marginal offside shouts would be a shitshow. You only need to look at ‘clear and obvious’ to see that.
I liked Wenger’s proposal of a grace threshold beyond the final defender - more in line with the spirit of the rule, promotes attacking football - but it doesn’t resolve the issues with the application of lines, etc. They’re just going to be in different places.
I’m not sure how it would effect our back line, employing the offside trap as effectively as we do.
I’m hoping that Jones’s star rises as Hugo’s settles (can’t bring myself to say fades). A new player in the current market to start against City and compete would be more expensive than Pogba’s haircuts.
Same here. I thought he was offsides too and was surprised at how close it was.
And I’ll go further on this subject. I think the manner these offsides are treated is creating huge uncertainty in our defense and defenders.
Both the media coverage and esp the TVs are not adjusting accordingly and some of these are being treated as ‘chances’ when in reality they are not. Even the replays are not focusing on angles that help determine if the play is offsides or not…
I could be wrong but I thought there was an offsides in the sequence of plays before the one that led to their first goal.
I hope they address this in the way these are called next season…
Was browsing the Bluemoon forums and the fume is off the charts. That part isn’t surprising, what surprises me is how personal they make everything, toward Liverpool supporters. There is genuine anger for us, and some very ugly personal insults that have nothing to do with the match. I also don’t know what the average age of their forum members, so I take it all with a pinch of salt as the saying goes. They’re also extremely effusive in their statements that their side is “THE best of this era” and no one else is close. Almost as it they’re trying to convince themselves more than anyone.
All of that said, what I watched was a football match played at an extremely high level between 2 outstanding sides. IMO, the draw is likely the right result, even if I thought we could’ve won. I’m honest enough to say City were the better side in the first half, but we were better in the second half.
Now, speaking specifically to our own shortcomings in the first half, I couldn’t work out if it was just us making nervy mistakes not “playing our own game” or if City was doing something tactically to prevent us from playing our game. If you look at both of their goals they came from mistakes. Matip’s deflection on the first, then on the second goal, that entire sequence began with Ali inexplicably misplacing a goal kick to the center of the midfield and putting everyone under duress. The second goal didn’t come immediately from that, but it was the genesis for the sequence leading to the goal.
The point in all of that being, I don’t at all believe we were dominated or played off the pitch by City. You simply can’t gift cheap goals to a team like City. That first goal was pure shit and an absolute gift.
We had difficulties in midfield, but I thought we were able to work some of that out as the match went on.
EDIT: as an aside, I thought Pep’s behavior throughout out the match was abhorrent. Running onto the pitch, running through Jürgen’s technical area, grabbing Cancelo around the neck and kissing him. Just very…odd behavior.
I tend to agree that we just weren’t very good in that first half. I watched it back this morning because I had spent most of the first half with my eyes covered. I’d assumed their dominance was down to City brilliance and it was to an extent. They pressed like demons (and tired in the second half because of it which is why I think the game was more even after half time) but our whole approach was just wrong, wrong, wrong. We made it easy for them.
We can’t go toe to toe with them any more. We have to adapt our tactics because this City side are not clinical and you can frustrate them if you sit deep and have an attack that can break at pace. It’s what Spurs did and what Palace did. We are more than capable of doing that against them. It’s how we played at Anfield in 2019, the last time we actually looked a better team than them in a head to head.
The number of times we tried to play through the centre of the pitch only to lose it was shocking. Suicidal when you’re playing against the likes of De Bruyne. It was like we broke every rule in the book that you should be following when you play City. I hope our approach is different at Wembley or it will be another long afternoon
I’m of the opinion that the more accurate assessment is that we had the best of about 40% of the game and needed far more defensive interventions than City did.
Yep Mascot I think said a good point, that for the first 20 mins we should have dropped 10 yards deeper, condensed our lines and just stifled the game. City wanted a high octane, end to end game because they have the best in the world at exploiting that De Bruyne. A bit of pragmatism to allow us to get into the game was needed.
I honestly didn’t expect us to be outpressed by them.
I couldn’t agree more. And that’s not me superfanning anyone, I believe it’s still wide open. 21 points to play for. We have a trickier run-in but absolutely nothing been decided on 11 April.
I do not care. I made a pact. PL before I die (I am 53). We did that. Now more is greedy or extra. I just enjoy what we have. Best team. Brat club. No cheating. No fortunes. Second with respect is ok.
That’s the fourth time it’s happened to Matip in what feels like six months. I had already mentioned Matip in the United thread’s criticism of Maguire for being their deflected goal specialist. I guess it just has to be put down to his incredibly long legs
