Match Day Thread General matchday thread.

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Guess that sums up our different views of the world - for me there is always a solution, provided the desire and effort is there - the TMO in Rugby is brilliant, very rarely is there an incorrect decision ...

I know there will be the usual 'football's completely different' ... but I don't believe it is - instead of the VAR review it used to be a mob descending on referees bleating and complaining before a game could get restarted...

Football has evolved over the decades - you used to be able to pass back to your keeper when I first started playing - the offside and handball rules have changed repeatedly (not for the better) - used to be one sub - saw us win an FA Cup Q/F where we had 3 different keepers, two of which were outfield players ...

Only caveat is that changes need to improve the spectacle ...
I’m sure it’s **** in rugby too if it takes a long time but yes, it is different. You’ll always have these scenarios where it’s not possible to make a definite call quickly or even at all. You can move the offside line or give them a dozen more angles to view from but you can never know a goal has been scored in a Premier League game now when the ball hits the net and you have a quick glance at the lino for a flag. No technology fixes that. Absolutely no idea what your waffle about the back pass rule or the number of subs has to do with anything. Should be a maximum of three subs anyway. More nonsense that disrupts games.
 
No amount of changes will make up for the fact that basically every single rule is subjective so people will always be unhappy with decisions.

Plus the fact it completely ruins the game as a live spectacle.

Apparently it's in the next round of the cup :(
At Prem grounds only I thought. **** knows.
 
No amount of changes will make up for the fact that basically every single rule is subjective so people will always be unhappy with decisions.

Plus the fact it completely ruins the game as a live spectacle.

Apparently it's in the next round of the cup :(

The only one I see with real problems from a subjectivity viewpoint is handball I.e. was it deliberate or unintentional- offside can be changed to make it much simpler...

As I said - currently it's not fit for purpose ... no argument
 
I’m sure it’s **** in rugby too if it takes a long time but yes, it is different. You’ll always have these scenarios where it’s not possible to make a definite call quickly or even at all. You can move the offside line or give them a dozen more angles to view from but you can never know a goal has been scored in a Premier League game now when the ball hits the net and you have a quick glance at the lino for a flag. No technology fixes that. Absolutely no idea what your waffle about the back pass rule or the number of subs has to do with anything. Should be a maximum of three subs anyway. More nonsense that disrupts games.

My point, that you have 'no idea' about, is that the game has continually evolved and what many fans were unsure about, or even opposed to, is now the norm and accepted...

In Rugby the decision rests with the referee - to go to the TMO it is either because he has a doubt about something or the assistants, or the TMO, feel there is something that needs bringing to the Refs attention - works really well... assume you don't watch it?

One thing that a Rugby type approach could do is to quickly eliminate the ridiculous holding / grappling from set pieces that has become increasingly prevalent in the modern game ... this is now farcical - holding or shirt tugging is a foul and needs penalising every time ...
 
They were talking it about sky this morning and apparently decisions being correct have gone up from 82% pre var to 96% now.

Prem also has the lowest var interventions per match in the top 5 European leagues
 
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My point, that you have 'no idea' about, is that the game has continually evolved and what many fans were unsure about, or even opposed to, is now the norm and accepted...

In Rugby the decision rests with the referee - to go to the TMO it is either because he has a doubt about something or the assistants, or the TMO, feel there is something that needs bringing to the Refs attention - works really well... assume you don't watch it?

One thing that a Rugby type approach could do is to quickly eliminate the ridiculous holding / grappling from set pieces that has become increasingly prevalent in the modern game ... this is now farcical - holding or shirt tugging is a foul and needs penalising every time ...
Fair enough. It was just a **** point then. Being accepted and/or the norm doesn’t mean it’s better than what went before it. The back pass rule was a good change. Ever-increasing subs aren’t. VAR so far absolute dog **** with no obvious sign of being better than what came before it.

I don’t watch a lot of rugby but it’s a different vibe as a sport. The fans will accept the tech and delay because it’s more of a pastime for those attending on on average than football and it’s so stop-start anyway.
 
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They were talking it about sky this morning and apparently decisions being correct have gone up from 82% pre var to 96% now.

Prem also has the lowest var interventions per match in the top 5 European leagues
I love to know where they get these stats from, because I can remember when VAR first came in, it was said they looked back on a previous season in the Premier League, and it was only something like two real referee errors for the whole season, that denied a fair outcome. So figures are what you want them to be really. And even if the handball had been given that the ref missed, it still resulted in a goal, rather than a penalty and Tammy would have been offside, so the overall outcome was correct, with no technology involved whatsoever.
 
Each team gets one VAR review per game.

If they get the call right and it is a mistake then they keep the review.

Ref does all the other decisions like he used to.

Simple. Done. Pay me now.
I'd say one var review per game, a moment of their choosing, but no keeps, that's it end of, just the one.
 
Fair enough. It was just a **** point then. Being accepted and/or the norm doesn’t mean it’s better than what went before it. The back pass rule was a good change. Ever-increasing subs aren’t. VAR so far absolute dog **** with no obvious sign of being better than what came before it.

I don’t watch a lot of rugby but it’s a different vibe as a sport. The fans will accept the tech and delay because it’s more of a pastime for those attending on on average than football and it’s so stop-start anyway.

I didn't say all developments had made the game better - some certainly haven't - but anything that minimises errors must be for the good of the game, IMHO ...
 
More than three sideway passes and a free kick gets awarded to the opposition? <whistle>
When I was younger I use to get annoyed with teams lumping it up field for it only to put you under pressure again, when it pings back, whereas these days they play it out from the back and everyone has learned how to counter that and it results in so many errors. It's so frustrating when you see teams like City flapping around the box, just ****ing get on with it. Then when you want them to run the clock down, they seem incapable of doing it, there's a game I've got in mind a few seasons back, might have been City v Real, Pep was made to look so naive and it cost him a trophy - this must have been around the time they started being ****...but still better than Arsenal.
 
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For me if there was one technology I'd want in the top four tiers it would be goal-line technology, that's the important one for me, because you can't always tell if a ball had been scrambled over the line or if a goalkeeper is being opportunistic.
 
The Premier League and English Football League will resume their procedures for Ramadan, with matches pausing briefly to allow Muslim players to break their fast

:emoticon-0136-giggl

The roundabout painting types be fumin
 
The Premier League and English Football League will resume their procedures for Ramadan, with matches pausing briefly to allow Muslim players to break their fast

:emoticon-0136-giggl

The roundabout painting types be fumin
Will that actually apply to any games though mate, the only reason I ask is because my thought process is it gets dark before any evening ones KO and any daytime ones will finish before sunset (5.15pm-5.20pm ish).

Edit: I should add I'm referring to the 17th & 18th Feb 2026
 
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