In "Why the Makelele foul is the real threat to football," The Guardian's Rob Smyth identifies one of the biggest threats to the beautiful game.
"Claude Makelele is a master of it, and in that Portsmouth/United game it was abundantly clear that Lassana Diarra, the Luke Skywalker to his Obi-Wan Kenobi, had been taught well in their time together at Chelsea. Diarra was a deserved man of the match, in the sense that his influence on the match was greatest, but that influence was almost entirely negative. That is not his fault - it's his job - but to excel at it requires at times a simulation of defensive-midfield play that is just as unacceptable as its offensive equivalent: diving - and even harder for referees to judge."
But Smyth does have trouble finding the solution to the problem. Our suggestion? We've made it before: The Five Foul Rule: Football becomes a totally non-contact sport, the referees call everything without using their "judgement", every foul gets recorded in the referee's book based on shirt number and for every five fouls committed by a team, the opposing team is awarded a penalty. Eventually the game would flow better and finally we would have a game full of goals.
Source > 28.03.2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Video Protection
Recently when the International Football Association Board met in Gleneagles former Scottish player Gordon Smith was keen to talk to FIFA president Sepp Blatter about use of video evidence to retrospectively punish players for diving. But we have always felt that the best use of such a policy would be to punish the more damaging aspect of modern football--physical play.
Today, in the wake of the Ashley Cole tackle on Alan Hutton, Rafa Benitez has come out in favour of using video evidence to protect skillful players:
"I have always felt that video evidence should be used after a game for disciplinary matters...You can find things, you can protect players for the next game...Everyone will see that players have to be careful, they will say 'I can't do this again because I could be banned on what the video shows'...To me it is clear, you do not need to change the game, you just need to analyse what has happened...If players get banned for three games the first week it is done, then three games on the second week and more on the third, it will soon stop...I don't want to talk about just Ronaldo or Torres. Skilful players must be protected. We need to help referees and we need to look at the video afterwards to see what has happened. "
We at TBGSE have been saying this all along. It is true, the game need not be changed. All that needs to happen is that everyone starts to more closely adhere to the laws of football. And if video evidence puts a little fear into players and the managers who instruct them, then the we will get closer to the playing of the beautiful game.
Source > 21.03.2008
"I have always felt that video evidence should be used after a game for disciplinary matters...You can find things, you can protect players for the next game...Everyone will see that players have to be careful, they will say 'I can't do this again because I could be banned on what the video shows'...To me it is clear, you do not need to change the game, you just need to analyse what has happened...If players get banned for three games the first week it is done, then three games on the second week and more on the third, it will soon stop...I don't want to talk about just Ronaldo or Torres. Skilful players must be protected. We need to help referees and we need to look at the video afterwards to see what has happened. "
We at TBGSE have been saying this all along. It is true, the game need not be changed. All that needs to happen is that everyone starts to more closely adhere to the laws of football. And if video evidence puts a little fear into players and the managers who instruct them, then the we will get closer to the playing of the beautiful game.
Source > 21.03.2008
Changing the Soundtrack
It's two days after the Ashley Cole tackle on Alan Hutton. Good Friday.
Yesterday Cole "apologized" for the tackle and for his behaviour toward referee Mike Riley. Today we hear that Fabio Capello, on behalf of the FA, will weigh in on the issue of "discipline" in English football in response to the way the entire Chelsea team behaved toward the referee. But we have said this before here: for us behaviour comes second to other issues; for instance, in the case of Zidane's headbutting of Matterazzi behaviour is second to justice. The FA apparently has a new "respect the referee" initiative. But what we would like to see is a "Respect The Game" initiative. This initiative would be quite simple really--and make the referee's job easier too: players, managers, fans, administrators and especially media, would be asked only to respect the "laws of football."
As we said in an earlier post, there wasn't just one noticeable foul in the Chelsea-Tottenham match. There were countless fouls. For us Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho was the biggest offender in that he did many small things to put striker Dimitar Berbatov off of his game--which the official failed to see or did not want to see. It's another case of a centreback trying to deny talent its rightful opportunity to shine (see Zidane-Materazzi).
We feel that the most effective way to change things is to change the soundtrack of the televised matches provided by the commentators. Like this little track from the Chelsea-Tottenham match:
"The tackles are flying in but it's not so bad really...The players are playing with passion...it's great to see."
Blah, blah.Such commentators provide both the indictment of what is wrong with English football and the opportunity to improve the game. If instead of celebrating an out-dated view of the game, commentators embraced the essence of the beautiful game--the skill, the movement of players and the ball--the game in England could really march forward.
Source > 21.03.2008
Yesterday Cole "apologized" for the tackle and for his behaviour toward referee Mike Riley. Today we hear that Fabio Capello, on behalf of the FA, will weigh in on the issue of "discipline" in English football in response to the way the entire Chelsea team behaved toward the referee. But we have said this before here: for us behaviour comes second to other issues; for instance, in the case of Zidane's headbutting of Matterazzi behaviour is second to justice. The FA apparently has a new "respect the referee" initiative. But what we would like to see is a "Respect The Game" initiative. This initiative would be quite simple really--and make the referee's job easier too: players, managers, fans, administrators and especially media, would be asked only to respect the "laws of football."
As we said in an earlier post, there wasn't just one noticeable foul in the Chelsea-Tottenham match. There were countless fouls. For us Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho was the biggest offender in that he did many small things to put striker Dimitar Berbatov off of his game--which the official failed to see or did not want to see. It's another case of a centreback trying to deny talent its rightful opportunity to shine (see Zidane-Materazzi).
We feel that the most effective way to change things is to change the soundtrack of the televised matches provided by the commentators. Like this little track from the Chelsea-Tottenham match:
"The tackles are flying in but it's not so bad really...The players are playing with passion...it's great to see."
Blah, blah.Such commentators provide both the indictment of what is wrong with English football and the opportunity to improve the game. If instead of celebrating an out-dated view of the game, commentators embraced the essence of the beautiful game--the skill, the movement of players and the ball--the game in England could really march forward.
Source > 21.03.2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Experiment: Two additional assistant referees to focus on fouls and misconduct in the penalty area
Craig Urquhart, a former FIFA media officer and current editor of Project 2010, is relieved that the governing body has decided to not introduce goal-line technology during the African World Cup. He refers to the debates that followed after England won its Cup on a goal which may or may not have crossed the line:
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"And that's what makes football - unlike other codes such as cricket, rugby, tennis or American football - so beautiful. The human element, and human frailties, are part and parcel of the extraordinary theatre that is played out during the contest."
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Urquhart also reveals his satisfaction with the decision to introduce additional match-officials to focus on fouls in the penalty area:
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"Interestingly, the IFAB has approved a proposal from Fifa to conduct an experiment involving two additional assistant referees, who will mainly focus on fouls and misconduct in the penalty area...Again, that should be welcomed. Perhaps the 2010 World Cup will be remembered for ending the kind of cheating in the penalty area that so often takes the fairness out of football."
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Urquhart may be trying to support his earlier point about the Grosso dive that allowed Italy to defeat Australia but we are more interested in the more frequent kinds of physical cheating that occur in the penalty area (and elsewhere): body-checking, holding, pushing, elbowing, obstruction, tripping, stamping, etc. These are the real problems of the beautiful game. These are the behaviours that limit individual talent and kill the beautiful flow of football. Like Mr. Urquhart, we could also focus on another perpetrator of cheating from the Italian team to support our point: Marco Materazzi. If his shirt-pulling and verbal abuse had been spotted by an additional official, the beautiful Zidane would not have been forced to take justice into his own hands.
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Source > 13.03.2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
English Media Defends Reckless Tackling
Those seeking to find out why English football has declined need look no further than the English media and the way they see the game. For the thinking of the English media reflects the thinking of English society.Take the BBC's report on Liverpool's 1-Nil Champions League win over Inter. This is how one of its writers saw the sending off of Inter defender Nicolas Burdisso:
"Inter's hopes of mounting a fightback were dealt a cruel blow after 49 minutes when Burdisso - who had already been booked - collided with Lucas...The challenge looked innocuous and Inter were understandably enraged when Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo produced a red card that was harsh in the extreme."
Some might quickly point to the objectivity of the British media company in standing up for a player on an Italian team. But that would be missing the point.The fact of the matter is that Burdisso deserved to be sent off not just for repeated infringements of the laws of football but also for the dangerous final tackle itself. Burdisso did not collide with Lukas as the BBC reported, he charged at him full speed with studs up after already having been booked. The red was not harsh. It was fully warranted.It seems that at least one BBC reporter is as deluded as Scottish coach Alex McCleish who the other day pulled out a conspiracy theory about Sepp Blatter's intentions to change the game of football. McCleish cast the English game in a positive light by calling it robust. But the fact of the matter is that the English and Scottish are simply a bust. It is sad that the very people who first wrote the laws of football in the nineteenth century are now being undone by their misinterpretation of those laws.By celebrating a game full of fouls they may be creating a spectacle in their leagues but the cost is that they no longer produce enough technical footballers. For how can a country develop talent when everyone including the media is defending the kind of reckless tackling that we saw from Inter's Burdisso yesterday.
Source > 12.03.2008
"Inter's hopes of mounting a fightback were dealt a cruel blow after 49 minutes when Burdisso - who had already been booked - collided with Lucas...The challenge looked innocuous and Inter were understandably enraged when Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo produced a red card that was harsh in the extreme."
Some might quickly point to the objectivity of the British media company in standing up for a player on an Italian team. But that would be missing the point.The fact of the matter is that Burdisso deserved to be sent off not just for repeated infringements of the laws of football but also for the dangerous final tackle itself. Burdisso did not collide with Lukas as the BBC reported, he charged at him full speed with studs up after already having been booked. The red was not harsh. It was fully warranted.It seems that at least one BBC reporter is as deluded as Scottish coach Alex McCleish who the other day pulled out a conspiracy theory about Sepp Blatter's intentions to change the game of football. McCleish cast the English game in a positive light by calling it robust. But the fact of the matter is that the English and Scottish are simply a bust. It is sad that the very people who first wrote the laws of football in the nineteenth century are now being undone by their misinterpretation of those laws.By celebrating a game full of fouls they may be creating a spectacle in their leagues but the cost is that they no longer produce enough technical footballers. For how can a country develop talent when everyone including the media is defending the kind of reckless tackling that we saw from Inter's Burdisso yesterday.
Source > 12.03.2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunderland Lucky To Keep All Their Players On The Pitch
"Sunderland were perhaps lucky to keep all their players on the pitch when Bardsley received a yellow card for a bad foul on Pienaar."
Source > 11.03.2008
Source > 11.03.2008
Boa Morte Was Making Too Many Fouls
Spurs assistant manager Gus Poyet explains why West Ham were reduced to ten men:
"Boa Morte was making too many fouls and that's why he was sent off..."
Source > 11.03.2008
"Boa Morte was making too many fouls and that's why he was sent off..."
Source > 11.03.2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
The Tolerance Level
"I've got to agree with Arsene Wenger."
That's what we say here often.
But, unbelievably, those are the words of Wenger's arch-rival Alex Ferguson.That's right Alex Ferguson is agreeing with Arsene Wenger and it has to do with physical, cheating football and the job being done by referees and the governing bodies in protecting the game and its players.There is so much to talk about here after Portsmouth stole an FA Cup win at the expense of superior United.
First off here is what Cristiano Ronaldo had to say:
"Sometimes I say that this is the best league in the world, but sometimes they don't protect the skillful players...After what happened to the Arsenal player Eduardo da Silva, I am scared to do my skills...The referee against Portsmouth was unbelievable. In the first five minutes, there were three fouls and he took no action and then he failed to give a penalty. It's difficult to play like this...Sometimes they just protect the defenders and I am thinking about having to change my game because it is difficult to play like that...Diarra did not even try to play the ball when he tackled me and he wasn't even booked. It's a joke. So often, there were fouls and the referee did nothing."
And here is Ferguson:
"Keith Hackett (general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board) has got a lot to answer for in this country. He's not doing his job properly...He should be assessed like everyone else is assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, the players are assessed, referees are assessed. Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem. But his performance today should not be accepted in our game...I agree with Sepp Blatter, the standards in our game as opposed to the Continent, the tolerance level, is behind Europe. I think it's a big problem...Lassana Diarra had eight or nine fouls in the match. It's incredible. I've got to agree with Arsene Wenger. Someone is going to get a serious injury in our game. He's had one himself with Eduardo...It's not a nice thing to talk about but, the treatment Ronaldo is getting, I'm worried about him."
Hmm, maybe this is what Queiroz meant when he called Ferguson a defender of the beautiful game. Maybe Fergie is finally getting the picture after having really technical players in his side for the last few years. One can only hope. The man wields a lot of power. Still, I suspect that he and his team will revert to form when they cannot beat other technical teams. They will take fouls. Dive into tackles. Try to prevent the other team playing instead of trying to beat them with their own superior play. The way a Milan would. You didn't see Milan getting dirty when Arsenal out-footballed them. But who knows? Perhaps Fergie will change. Lord knows he seems to have had a traumatic experience today. Perhaps he's learned.
We have to add that it's not about the injuries for us. Though we don't want to see players hurt. It's about the style of play and the winning. The fact is that if the laws of football are followed and fouls and misconduct are eliminated, the skillful more beautiful football can be played and teams that develop or purchase that skill can then have a fair opportunity to win trophies.
As Wenger said just yesterday at Arsenal.com:
"It's like you say to me you kick everybody off the park and at the end of the season you win a trophy. To win trophies is important but it is not the only thing in sport.”
Source > 08.03.2008
That's what we say here often.
But, unbelievably, those are the words of Wenger's arch-rival Alex Ferguson.That's right Alex Ferguson is agreeing with Arsene Wenger and it has to do with physical, cheating football and the job being done by referees and the governing bodies in protecting the game and its players.There is so much to talk about here after Portsmouth stole an FA Cup win at the expense of superior United.
First off here is what Cristiano Ronaldo had to say:
"Sometimes I say that this is the best league in the world, but sometimes they don't protect the skillful players...After what happened to the Arsenal player Eduardo da Silva, I am scared to do my skills...The referee against Portsmouth was unbelievable. In the first five minutes, there were three fouls and he took no action and then he failed to give a penalty. It's difficult to play like this...Sometimes they just protect the defenders and I am thinking about having to change my game because it is difficult to play like that...Diarra did not even try to play the ball when he tackled me and he wasn't even booked. It's a joke. So often, there were fouls and the referee did nothing."
And here is Ferguson:
"Keith Hackett (general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board) has got a lot to answer for in this country. He's not doing his job properly...He should be assessed like everyone else is assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, the players are assessed, referees are assessed. Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem. But his performance today should not be accepted in our game...I agree with Sepp Blatter, the standards in our game as opposed to the Continent, the tolerance level, is behind Europe. I think it's a big problem...Lassana Diarra had eight or nine fouls in the match. It's incredible. I've got to agree with Arsene Wenger. Someone is going to get a serious injury in our game. He's had one himself with Eduardo...It's not a nice thing to talk about but, the treatment Ronaldo is getting, I'm worried about him."
Hmm, maybe this is what Queiroz meant when he called Ferguson a defender of the beautiful game. Maybe Fergie is finally getting the picture after having really technical players in his side for the last few years. One can only hope. The man wields a lot of power. Still, I suspect that he and his team will revert to form when they cannot beat other technical teams. They will take fouls. Dive into tackles. Try to prevent the other team playing instead of trying to beat them with their own superior play. The way a Milan would. You didn't see Milan getting dirty when Arsenal out-footballed them. But who knows? Perhaps Fergie will change. Lord knows he seems to have had a traumatic experience today. Perhaps he's learned.
We have to add that it's not about the injuries for us. Though we don't want to see players hurt. It's about the style of play and the winning. The fact is that if the laws of football are followed and fouls and misconduct are eliminated, the skillful more beautiful football can be played and teams that develop or purchase that skill can then have a fair opportunity to win trophies.
As Wenger said just yesterday at Arsenal.com:
"It's like you say to me you kick everybody off the park and at the end of the season you win a trophy. To win trophies is important but it is not the only thing in sport.”
Source > 08.03.2008
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