It's fascinating, and probably as a connective tissue of news-reporting workability - this same thing maybe scales all the way up to the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and other awful ill-educated stuff - but speaking as someone who can't understand 1/3 of what is going on with NFL calls, I find it a curious desire in this case.....
it may well not be where it starts, but it is most certainly a measurement of it actually happening to some extent (either major or minor), once it is measured. It all depends on what people are willing to accept as a valid starting point for such measurement. Whether an advantage is actually being gained or not is less relevant than that a spectator can believe that it might (and most likely is/was) being gained. This for me is more about the spectator situation and maybe somehow avoiding the farcical, ludicrous, utterly ridiculous mayhem of celebration and then undone celebration that happened at the end of that Barcelona game last week. Imagine if that had been the goal that had won them the league in a 3-2 win by two points, but their goal difference was less than Real Madrid? Instead of that always happening, in the light between torso scenario a linesman would often more likely flag immediately on the attacker once he saw that the majority of the bulk of the body had moved off of the line of level. Then celebration would wait to happen or not happen in those cases...... Linesmen could be encouraged to flag this if still yet unsure only in latter stages of games and then let VAR figure it out
It's not a bad idea. But I think something more akin to the blue line in hockey would be more beneficial. Make the blue line 35 yards from goal. Once a team establishes possession inside the blue line there is no offside. Would completely eliminate defending with all ten men in a low block. But I think the offside rule is right. But we've taken enforcement of it down to the milimeter. With technology we can give leeway of a foot (12 inches).
They tried that with the first iteration of the NASL. Didn’t work. All that happened was that the goal hangers stood on the 36 yd line waiting for the long ball from the back. The defenders pretty much did the same and the midfielders saw a lot of the underside of the ball whizzing overhead.
In my iteration the traditional offside rule is in place. That guy 36 yards out is offside if he receives the ball. But once the ball is possessed inside the blue line the attackers can go anywhere. If TAA hits a diagonal ball to Gakpo and he is onside and collects the ball 30 yards from goal, the rest of our attackers can now beeline it to goal without fear of being offside.
I don;t think that works well at all. personaly I was a very fast, quick start sprinter. This would have suited me no end. As soon as Gakpo gets the ball I take off into that 35 yards knowing that I will arrive on the edge of the box ahead of anyone tracking me. He holds long enough for me to break loose ..... You can;t defend high against that at all. Michael Owen would have been unstoppable under such a system ... he'd have scored a hat trck every game
That’s a distinction without a difference from the old NASL rule. Still leads to eleventy forwards waiting, eleventy defenders lining up against them and the midfielders looking at clouds.
Last day of the PL on Sunday. talk about "a lot to play for" regarding next season's Euro competitions. here's an explanation of the Rubik's-cube of possibilities. hint: you'll need coffee, several cups probably. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...os-in-who-needs-what-and-how-10-could-qualify Premier League race for Europe: who’s in, who needs what and how 10 could qualify While the top and bottom of the Premier League are resolved, European spots are very much up for grabs Andy HunterWed 21 May 2025 11.36 BST Intrigue on the final day of the Premier League season is concentrated solely on who qualifies for Europe, but there is plenty of it. Seven clubs will enter the last round of matches unsure of which European competition they will be playing in next season, or in some cases whether they will be playing in Europe at all, with half of the division potentially competing in Uefa tournaments in 2025-26. Here is what is at stake on Sunday … Champions League Champions Liverpool and runners-up Arsenal have secured their places at the top table for next season but three of England’s five qualification spots remain up for grabs. The Premier League has gained an extra fifth Champions League place – a “European Performance Spot” – owing to English clubs’ results across Uefa competitions this season. The winners of Wednesday night’s Europa League final between Manchester United and Tottenham also qualify, meaning there will be six English sides in the 36-team group phase. Three from Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest will join them. A win or a draw at Fulham will keep Pep Guardiola’s side among the European elite; Newcastle host Everton and Villa visit Old Trafford. The stakes are high for both clubs at the City Ground, where Forest host Chelsea knowing victory would secure their place in the Europa League or reward an excellent campaign with Champions League football should Newcastle or Villa drop points. Only an away win will keep Chelsea in control of their Champions League destiny. Europa League Crystal Palace have booked one of English football’s two places in next season’s Europa League courtesy of their historic FA Cup triumph against Manchester City. The sixth-placed Premier League team get the other. That could be any one of City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Villa or Forest. Conference League As winners of the Carabao Cup, Newcastle have gained entry to European football’s third tier competition. The complicated bit And it is complicated, and will not be decided until Chelsea play Real Betis in the Conference League final next Wednesday. The winners of the Conference League qualify for the Europa League. However, if Enzo Maresca’s team win in Wrocław and finish in the top five they will take their place in the Champions League and no other Premier League team will get their Europa League spot. But should Chelsea win the Conference League and finish sixth, with Newcastle finishing seventh, the Premier League receives an extra Europa League place. That would go to Eddie Howe’s team. The team finishing eighth in the Premier League would then qualify for the Conference League. Should Chelsea win the Conference League and finish seventh, the extra Europa League place would go to the sixth-placed team in the Premier League and, again, the team in eighth would qualify for the Conference League. That means Brighton (who are at Spurs) and Brentford (away to Wolves) have something tangible to play for on the final day and England’s European contingent could swell to 10 next season. All clear? Good.
permutations abound ... so I'll just focus on the potential for MC to end up in 7th place. remarkably unlikely of course. would need: - Fulham to beat MC (Fulham have zero to play for except ending 9th vs 10th) plus - each of NU, Villa and Chelsea to win their games. miniscule chance but it would be delightful if it came about.
Meanwhile today - just what Bilbao always wanted --- 80,000 Engurlanders descending...... It's like the title of a certain Black Sabbath abum
Jesus effin christ in a BUCKET!! I wet to see if Paramount would have the game today,and didn;t have my login here at work - so I asked an innocuous question about Paramount for later - Here's the kind of crass stupidity you geet when you monetize AI for clicks/mentions, etc Machine obviously hasn;t analyzed the proper meaning of the human word "revulsion"
Was meant to be a +1 tonight, just couldn’t make it. Friend sent me photos to remind me what I’m missing.
Maybe you should watch basketball - it's a dozen times more glorious than that. Funny thing though - it's hard to remember nearly any of the scores....
In next season’s CL, we will play 2 of Real, Barça, Bayern, PSG, Inter or Dortmund - 1 home and 1 away.
Not sure where to put this, but the driver that injured all of the people at the parade is being charged with multiple Grievous Bodily Harm charges. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk2l00p3r2o
Prob Better than Barca and PSG -- although one never knows how strong Bayern will get over the course of any given summer walleting....
Things I didn’t know. Carragher, the name notwithstanding, is of Maltese extraction and has Maltese citizenship. His son has just been capped by Malta, I think as a DM.
Again - thank the lord that we are not in this! https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments...teams-dates-venue-groups-draw-matches-tickets
Infantino is a blight on the game. FIFA shouldn't be allowed to do a damn thing with football clubs themselves, just country FA's. if he has his way this abomination will be scheduled 3 times a year.