Raphael Varane says

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66426840

New rule changes are damaging the games.

Or -

Spoilt footballer doesn't like having to follow rules to avoid needless yellows and wants to be able to waste time and kick the ball away and cheat.

Discuss.

 

Sounds like Tom Verlaine meets the Pre Raphaelites at Barnsley Interchange...

 

I just went to Coopland's.

 

Tuna Mayonnaise, bag of crisps and a can of San Pellgrino for £4?

 

I bet that hit the spot. I'm fancying a pint of Stowford press.

 

I agree with him that they should listen to the players views. Personally I think the game may well become slower paced due to the almost a quarter of the time. being added on, like on Saturday. And I'd rather less time but a more pressured game

 

Players can't have it all their own way, the disobedience and unprofessionalism seen at every level is unacceptable. I'd get the referees mic'd up also.

 

Agreed, if they're playing too many minutes use some of the fringe/youth players to give the hard done to world cup winners a rest.

 

It’s a farce will play hell with people who travel, completely overkill and will make it purgatory when it’s cold

 

The French poet or the bloke from Television..? edit - poet was Paul Verlaine. Bloody radical.!

 

The players are the cause of the issue that the changes aim to address. Cheating is now endemic in the game. It's become the norm to kick or throw the ball away or to stand in front of the ball to prevent the opposition taking a quick free-kick or throw-in. Speed of thought and movement from a dead ball situation used to be a useful tactic and was itself an exciting part of the game. And in recent years it's been stopped nine times out of ten by the negative tactic to stop it. Similarly, cheating by feigning injury to slow down the game, particularly in the closing stages has become the norm too. It's happened in virtually every game in recent times. As has time-wasting, from a goalkeeper collecting the ball and then diving on top of it and having a look around for a while before he gets up (Brad Collins was a past master at it) to outfield players doing whatever they can to waste a few seconds.

Collectively all this has become known as 'game management' - b*****ks, it's cheating. As is dissent. Players seek to manipulate referees and the game by their constant whining. If they stop all the game management stuff then a) they won't get booked or sent off and b) there won't be any need for loads of added time. It's a loophole in the rules that has rightly been closed imo.

For the next two or three months I think there's going to be lots of time added on, lots of bookings and some sendings off but I completely support it nevertheless. To the players: stop focusing on cheating to stop the other team playing and instead focus on creating something for your team - if you do that you won't need to play an extra 20 minutes. And it'll be a far better game to watch.

PS - I thought Roberts was perhaps a bit unlucky to be booked on Saturday but I understood why Styles was.

 

If it ain't broke and all that... There has already been a system to eradicate timewasting in the game. Yellow cards.

I wonder what the benefit of having matches take longer and fans in the ground or watching on television for more minutes could be? More exposure time of a captive audience to advertising you say? No, surely not...

 

I've been watching football for over 50 years and cheating has been endemic in the game for the whole of that time.

As our new player Mael de Gevigney might say, Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

 

Game management, cheating, call it what you want but it isn’t new.

Keepers have been taking ages over goal kicks and full backs with throw ins, when their side has been winning, since the year dot.

Tighten up on that and book them, ok.

But be consistent doing it. Unlike David Rock. And understand what you’re doing. Also unlike David Rock.

And nobody wants this ridiculous amount of additional time, apart from you maybe and a few who think like you.

How late is a game going to go on until that kicks off at 7:45 or 8:00? The players don’t want it, the coaches don’t, the majority of the fans as far as I can see don’t. We played a total of 20 minutes additional time Saturday. Nearly eleven minutes second half. We were six nil up going into that period. Port vale wanted to go. They’d had enough. We wanted to go as well, game was done.

Absolutely no common sense. In that additional time, we scored, so he added another nearly two minutes to the nine given - and booked our keeper for alleged time wasting - he took less time than Port Vale did over a corner two minutes later - when we were six nil up.

We are going to see an increase in groin and hamstring injuries, fatigue will dictate that. Ankle and knee ligament injuries are shown to have fatigue as a major risk factor. FIFA fixed something which wasn’t really broken for the World Cup last year. Carrying it on. I really don’t see what good it serves.

 

The injuries point is a very good one. It's all well and good doing it for a single tournament, but adding 10% on to every fixture in a very busy calendar is going to have serious effects.

 

It doesn't work. Referees give them multiple chances before they book them, players consider that the time wasted makes it worth being booked. It's no longer worth it if there's no advantage to be gained because the time is going to be added on anyway. Once the players get that the time being added will start to go down.

I may be mistaken but are you suggesting it's just part of the game, and acceptable? If so, then we just disagree. And I agree it's not new but the cheating is more extensive and systemic than it's ever been imo. Again imo, players and managers are more willing than they've ever been to bend the rules to seek advantage - I believe the problem has probably grown in a direct relationship with the increased amount of money in the game.

 

Arr much

 

Not at all.

My point is that they are seeing a bigger problem in it now for reasons I’m suggesting are nothing to do with sporting integrity and the good of the game. The additional time isn’t in the interests of anyone other than prolonged onscreen time for sponsors and a longer lasting product for selling future broadcast rights.

I disagree about time wasting being more prevalent in the current game aswell. They’ve changed things before. Mostly for the good.

Do you remember the game pre pass back rule?

Knock it about the back four then back to the keeper, roll it out. Do it again.

Ball always in play, nothing illegal. Could take ten minutes out of the game and bore you to tears.

See also, changing the keeper in possession rule, four steps, six seconds, nothing at all at one point I believe.

Can’t remember the last time a six seconds infringement was given, they just stopped a few years ago.

But this has a stench of disingenuity about it. This isn’t about the game and integrity, it isn’t about maximising the time in play for the fans in the stadium. It is the overscraping of an already empty barrel. There are already sixty plus games a season for many and with the financial rules they’ve brought in many teams can’t afford huge squads to rotate their teams.

It flies against the protocols they say they have in place to safeguard players.

The game is quicker paced and requires higher fitness levels than at any point in the past. Players are covering more distance in games than ever. I read a newspaper article in the Irish times online that quoted that from the seventies to today, the average distance covered for every position in the game has increased by over 20%, and at a much higher pace. They play a lot of games, at all levels but especially the top.

Making them play for 20% longer as well is a bridge too far.

Mark my words. There will be serious injuries caused directly by this protocol, potentially career shortening or ending ones. It isn’t sustainable.

 

The new rules it's gone too far the other way. Don't tell the ref to F off or get in his face, but a player should be allowed to be passionate enough to disagree with a decision or query it without being booked for so called disent.

 

Having reffed u12s games a number of times last season, I respectfully disagree. Refs make the decision they feel is correct. It may not be correct but having made it a ref will never go back on it unless VaR tells them to.
Players/coaches not respecting that just makes me not want to give them any further decisions. Same with if the crowd are on my back.
If there are any 50/50s I don’t give it to the team who’s players/coach/fans are being gimboids.