Offside is probably the most argued about and controversial part of the game. A change in the law to "clear air" between the players would alleviate most of the really tight decisions and together with VAR it would probably determine near to 100%. It won't be perfect though-nothing ever is. We also have to remember that a change would apply to grass roots football and it would probably ease things for Sunday morning refs as well.
The 'clear air' thing will just move the blurred line by a foot or two. I'm sure it's been tried before, hasn't it?
Will be it totally clear air, clear air at chest height? And it will still be got wrong. Someone then has to decide when that becomes 'clear and obvious'. It will still be a mess.
So he (Oliver) gives that penalty last night for Madrid, aided by Artkinson behind the goal, for a slight nudge yet we have a stone wall pen and red card turned down, as they say in the press is it any wonder English ref's are thought so badly of.
I think it would be a lot more difficult to measure as well
One of our "favourie" English referees is not very popular in Italy either ..................................
Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon slams Michael Oliver
"Clearly you cannot have a heart in your chest, but a garbage bin. On top of that, if you don't have the character to walk on a pitch like this in a stadium like this, you can sit in the stands with your wife, your kids, drinking your Sprite and eating crisps.
"You cannot ruin the dreams of a team. I could've told the referee anything at that moment, but he had to understand the degree of the disaster he was creating. If you can't handle the pressure and have the courage to make a decision, then you should just sit in the stands and eat your crisps."
We score a perfectly good onside goal and it's given erroneously as offside? That isn't against us? It's wrong and the decision goes against us!
As for VAR getting it right? I am definitely in the VAR camp from the point of view that the shitty reffing we have had this season could not get shittier, but all I see from the application of VAR is the same referee or another referee making a judgment! Hopefully VAR will eradicate some of the errors of the past but there seems to be a reluctance, a heavy doubt from the people who decide and administer the system and I am too suspicious of these people to think that it will in anyway be transparent! Will we get the rugby big screen for the fans to see, or will it be some system installed in an unmarked van somewhere in Phillips Park? I think we will get little benefit from it if it is cloak and dagger implementation, and it is the latter which people like PiGMOl and the FArce would favour - once they've asked David Gill what system he would prefer!
Wasn't it Oliver who saw fit to book Aguero for diving in the penalty area at Southampton one season when he had his legs taken from under him by a Saints defender?So he (Oliver) gives that penalty last night for Madrid, aided by Atkinson behind the goal, for a slight nudge yet we have a stone wall pen and red card turned down, as they say in the press is it any wonder English ref's are thought so badly of.