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From: Google Beta User on 15 Jun 2010 23:37 Has 4-2-3-1 made the game more "tactical" and less "fluid"?
From: Huw Morris on 16 Jun 2010 09:44 HASM wrote: > Very little changed, if anything at all, in the offside law, just the > language was made more clear and what's "in line" or "not in line" was > finally defined. The language of the law has not changed. However, over the last 20 years, the *interpretation* of that law has changed greatly. >> The crucial difference now is whether a player in an offside position is >> interfering with play. > > I'm old, and I remember this being discussed in games I watched in my > youth. Players used to stop and stand still to signal that they were not > involved in play all the time. I remember a 1-0 game in the largest derby > back in my home country that was decided on such a goal, where the ball > goes very close to a player totally in offside position, near midfield, > but > not involved in play. Lots of paper and ink were dedicated to that play. A player not involved in active play is not offside. That's the law, and has been the case for many, many years. (Maybe dating back as far as the first codification of the laws?) Whatever FIFA say is the correct interpretation, there will always be edge cases, and thus always arguments about whether a player in an offside position is actually offside or not. The case I mentioned is a quite specific one. Ten years ago, if a forward was standing in front of the defence, looking to gain an advantage, he would be deemed to be offside, even if the ball was played to an onside team-mate down the wings. That is no longer the case, and I think this is what is having a detrimental effect at this tournament. >> The upshot of this is that offside has been effectively neutered. > > Not sure which games you're watching besides the World Cup. In the World > Cup no one wants to lose so badly, and have watched defensive teams win > trophies, that they just play a more defensive style. > >> Am I wrong about this? Is it just normal at this stage of the Cup? > > I'd say normal. And yet, a statistic in today's Times, that after the first 14 games, there have been *eight* fewer goals than at any other tournament at the same stage. Yes, even Italia '90 was a goalfest compared to this year. I know that coaches generally play defensively and that you don't always expect wild attacking play at this stage. It was my assertion that this year is even worse than normal - in goals, goal chances and attacking intent overall. I hope I'm wrong and that things improve, as they usually do. Huw
From: Huw Morris on 16 Jun 2010 09:50 HASM wrote: > I think we're arguing semantics here. Directives on how to interpret the > laws didn't and don't change the laws, they're just clarifications on how > to interpret them, i.e. telling referees how they should have done things > all along. That's not true at all. New interpretations can have as dramatic an effect as a change in the laws. The only difference is that the new interpretations are easier to implement than a law change. There's certainly nothing to suggest that a new interpretation is how things should have been interpreted in the past. Huw
From: Alessandro Riolo on 16 Jun 2010 09:53 On 16 June, 02:48, HASM <netn...(a)invalid.com> wrote: > This wasn't really a change, it was a clarification on what is active I can ensure you that in Serie A, or in any Italian league for that matter, before that clarification, the rule was applied in a very different way. -- ale http://ale.riolo.co.uk
From: Abubakr on 16 Jun 2010 09:53
On Jun 16, 1:37 pm, Google Beta User <wanyik...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Has 4-2-3-1 made the game more "tactical" and less "fluid"? Whenever you 'specialisation' of roles the game becomes rigid and some basic fluidity is stifled and 4-2-3-1 is very much geared towards specialised roles. When Brazil starts peddling centre-backs as midfielders you know things have gone awry. |