John Stones injury last night

Just reading about this - could be a bad one on his ankle, yet it was so unnecessary. The forward was offside, Stones played to the whistle and made a block tackle and only then the linesman put his flag up.

When are these clowns running the game going to realise that this idiotic rule of not flagging immediately could cost a player his career? There is so much wrong these days, especially in the Premier League, but this bizarre rule needs changing as a matter of priority. But, then again, I’m just trying to apply common sense to the situation so what do I know?

 

What’s the recompense if the linesman flags incorrectly though and the player is denied a goalscoring opportunity? Does the attacking team get a penalty to give them a chance to right the error? If the defending team is confident they are offside they can stop and allow them to score. While ever we have VAR I don’t see how they can do it the other way without introducing something for when the linesman gets it wrong.
The only other alternative I can think of is to stop flagging for offsides altogether and just let VAR review goals only.

 

You want MORE VAR interference? Hmm….

 

Agree with this.. where ever VAR is in operation i agree with letting the play go on..
The one where it doesnt make sense is where it isnt.. in our league for example they let play go on without the prospect of VAR correcting the call so its pointless in our league and that is where i have a problem with players potentially being injured.

 

Feel sorry for him, he's so injury prone. Glad that Everton fans claped him off and didn't boo him when he touched the ball.

 

If the linesman gets it wrong he gets it wrong. Nothing will happen, it's a game. They got it wrong for a hundred years and football became the most popular sport in the world.

There is absolutely no way this current version of the game would ever achieve that if it was starting from zero.

 

That was my point. The point of VAR should be that so called “black and white” decisions are always correct.
I totally agree with scrapping VAR for all “interpretive” decisions but offside is one that we can actually say to a degree of certainty that someone can be on or off. If you don’t let play carry on you need to have a way to make up for play being stopped when a team is attacking.

 

I’m all for scraping VAR altogether, but if you’re using it for a player being off side, you have to use it equally for them being on side.

 

Craig Gordon, the Hearts goalkeeper had his leg broken last season when Stephen Fletcher was clearly offside. Imo liners should do what they're paid to do,especially when the offside is so blatant.

 

Scrap VAR and scrap offside unless there's clear daylight between attacker and second defender.
Offside was NEVER intended to chalk off perfectly good goals because a striker's dick was a millimetre too long - until the pillocks in suits took charge of the game.

 

The problem with the football authorities is they have found a way to a) use technology that doesnt work alone b) retain the same officials along with their human error c) apply both in a way that is inconsistent c) gone on to change and adjust the rules of the game and the way they are officiated all with the objective of making an imperfect game perfect. They have only served to make a great game confusing, inconsistent, controversial and even more imperfect

 

I sit in west lower so often behind the linesman who 50% of time doesn't keep up with play and tries using his assumptions to get decisions right. The current offside rule of phases of play etc is ridiculous. Some teams like Liverpool look to me like they practice gaming the system. Central defenders in particular find themselves heading a ball out of play due to a lurking striker. That striker is offside but has he hasnt "become active in play" he gets the throw and gains an advantage whilst offside. I have no problem with VAR, the modern game is too fast and many players regularly cheat so officials need all the help they can get especially as teh authorities seem hell bent on devising more and more complex rules

 

I'm in complete agreement with the OP. I've seen so many near things re serious injuries on Match Of The Day.

 

The argument would then be whether there is actually clear daylight.

Wherever the line is drawn the same subjective argument will ensue.

 

Then we do what we always did until the pillocks came along. We give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker and we trust and accept the linesman's decision whether right or wrong.
Then we argue about it in the pub and on the bbs

 

They do that now anyway. They flag offside when they think its obvious. Wonder how many they have got wrong that we never get told about.

 

Officials make mistakes and sometimes they get it right. Often we’re on the wrong end of errors but sometimes they go in our favour. I can live with that.

What I don’t look forward to are the days when we might be subject to this current nonsense where goals are celebrated then chalked off minutes later. I’d rather see us playing at this level than suffer that rubbish

 

Yes, all for that. Never wanted VAR, still don't like it, get rid.

 

The old offside rule without VAR worked fine for the best part of a century....