Off Topic World Cup 2018

Well well Ron you have opened up a big pet hate thing for me here )))
I played football from leaving school at championship level as it is now in England for 10 years until i got injured and had to retire. I then went in to coaching. I coached in Turkey, Germany, and US, I despair at the coaching in UK, it is poor beyond belief ( though i have not seen any the last few years so maybe its changing) The Turks were clever as about 20 years ago they sent a lot of their coaches around europe to catch up, it worked as they got a 3rd place at the WC and uefa cup win, their teams got a lot stronger in europe overall.
Germany was excellent, i was at Leverkusen, they keep it so obvious and simple based around not too many core skills. US always take the science to the next level so that was very good too.
The UK, terrible. We have boys clubs with teams from 8-16 years with the coaches usually being a parent with a level 1 cert, he knows very little about football and probably couldnt play in his day either out of sunday league. The focus these coaches have is winning the league, not developing the kids ability. Get the ball to the fastest strongest lad is usually the theory. The coaching consists of a few flashy drills he has seen on youtube or learnt on a course, he has no idea why it will benefit his players/team but it looks good to the parents watching. A good hard tackle is cheered (spanish coaches would be horrified by this) , a 3-0 win simply as they had a bigger/ stronger team is cheered when in fact the team learnt nothing of use in terms of development. Very little work goes on learning to play on the half turn, learning step overs or lollipops for 1 on 1 use, playing football tennis for touch, keepy ups!!! You dont use them in a game so are banned forgetting the football must be your friend.
The pro academies here mould young pros into a drilled styled of football that is why England players tend to be tactically rigid, unlike in say Holland where you enhance how to play using core skills you obviously have if your at that level of 1 and 2 touch, playing in tight spaces, playing on the half turn.
I refuse to coach here as its a results based culture not a development one. I had to stop watching youth football a few years back as it was infuriating for me.

 

Mallafwts possibly the best read on the failures of British football

 

That's very interesting mall. Yes the football tennis is one of the games the youngsters tend to play before and after training. In the football season my grandson has training every day of the week except Sunday and plays matches/tournaments every Saturday. It would seem the thing that needs more work with players, is to use their brains to anticipate (it gains you a good 2 metres) and to split defences wide open with passes into open space - too much reliance on passing to the feet. I get frustrated when I see a large area of grass and it not being made use of.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, unlike yourself, I am not a qualified coach. But the importance of the movement off the ball cannot be over stressed. I remember when my daughter was in the school netball team and they entered a tournament. The coach was a teacher and she did no coaching and I could see in training that the players, although good at defending and excellent shooters, were pretty poor and frustrating as a team. So I took them aside and played with them for a while, giving them a bollocking if I received the ball and no-one had moved to make themselves available for a pass. They soon got the idea and, with my loud reminders from the touchline they made it to the final and just lost. If I could speak fluent French I would take up coaching youngsters here. Unfortunately, I have a bit of a problem with languages and can rarely understand what anyone is saying

 

I'd hate for you to come across like Tony Adams Ron

 

The penalty was NOT a penalty, which clearly shows up the VAR system as a joke – only one person to blame and he had the whistle for the whole 90 minutes.

I totally disagree with your interpretation of the handball rule. There was nothing deliberate about it. Fortunately France won by more than a goal so this is not the World Cup that will be remembered for the incompetent officiating. VAR has been a total joke and they really need to sort that out if they are going to keep it.

 

****ing Hell, so would I. Do I sound like him?

 

I think that penalty, swung the game as it was against the run of play. The free kick leading to the first goal was a serious error and Croatia can consider themselves very unfortunate. Had they not been chasing the equaliser, they may not have left themselves open to the sucker punches

 

Not sure if it was part of the VAR remit but surely if the aim is to get more accurate decisions then the VAR team see immediately that Griezman dived, get in the refs ear, he reverses the foul and books the Frenchman. The second French goal is not a clear and obvious penalty in my view either.

 

There is one significant word here and it is “deliberate”. There was no intention to handle the ball as the players’ arm was down by his side and he was very close to the player off whom the ball came. The referee got to watch it on TV and still got in wrong. Just as bad as Rugby Super League – watch it slowly and still make the wrong call.

As you state, it probably made a big difference because it changed the team tactics.

 

therein lies the problem with var, every foul , every throw , every incident could potentially lead to an unfair advantage. the game would never flow , that's why on balance i'm against it .
there are players who intentionally get free kicks in places that would provide an opportunity, ronaldos goal for portugal in the opening game was a perfect example , all players know this ruse , it's part of the game , conning the ref ....

 

A handball is classed as deliberate if your arm moves towards the ball i believe.