Loughborough Ram

It used to be a standing joke that women couldn't understand the offside rule.

I now believe that there are only a handful of people in the world that could actually explain it, so that it makes sense to the rest of us.

It seems like it's been complicated to such a degree that referees can pretty much make a decision up on the spot, and nobody can dispute it.

I used to run the line for my son's team and I genuinely wonder how on earth, that would be possible under todays various complications of the law.

 

 

Sometimes, there are things in the game that really p*ss me off about football. Here are just a few to kick this off but feel free to add to it.

 

Referees have decided that tactical fouls aren't automatically a booking.

Players have reinvented socks, making holes absolutely essential.

There is no such thing as a foul throw anymore.

Nicknames on the backs of shirts.

Nobody is ever given a penalty for wrestling at corners.

Half time takes over 20 minutes.

Offside is only given when the ball gets close to the goal, never on the halfway line where the offside actually occurred.

 

With almost half of the games behind us, how optimistic do you feel about the rest of the season? Where do you think we will finish?

It will be interesting to see the difference in our opinions between now and the end of the transfer window.

My feeling is that we will finish 3rd, having been in hunt for the top two for the final 2 months of the season. 

Forget this stuff about "VAR can't intervene because it's outside the box". Kanes foot was outside, but the contact was clearly on the line or inside the box. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can be sure that at the other end that is a penalty, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see VAR intervene to give France a big decision for much less before the end of the game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ref couldn't wait to stop the game when hernandez went down at the end, yet let the game run when Saka was down after being fouled in the run up to their goal.

 

I don't mind officials letting 'old style' contact go, as long as it's the same for both sides. Clearly that wasn't the case throughout the first half

Frances plan is clearly to kick Saka and Foden out of the game

On a slightly separate point, Chris Wilder was at our game on Saturday with Chris(?) Morgan, the centre half who played for Sheff Utd a few years back. I passed them outside the main entrance.

Danny Murphy was even worse watching Mbape. I think that there would have to be an x rated warning for sexual content if he ever commentates on a PSG game.

It's very difficult to listen to at times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

33 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

What makes you say ex players would be a valuable addition? Just because they have played the game at high level doesn't necessarily mean they will be good at providing a balanced and impartial view. I know they may react differently in the studio but how often do we see ex defenders tending to side with the defence and ex forwards siding with the forwards?

Surely VAR is designed to help referee's make the right decision (eventually) rather than "improve the game" per se. It is therefore there for the benefit of the official. I can't see anything radically wrong with that.

For me, the biggest issue is with the time it takes to arrive at a decision and I'd quite like to see the same as you see in Rugby where the footage the VAR team/officials are reviewing is shared with the crowd (I assume it is rather than just shared with the viewers at home. I've never been to a Rugby match). Same applies to conversation between the rugby ref and their VAR equivalent. 

I think it's right that the VAR team are made up of officials (after all, they are the ones who should know the rules. I'm not sure leaving interpretation of those rules in the hands of ex players is any safer) and the change in emphasis should just more openness over what they are reviewing and how they have arrived at their decision.

 

I'm not advocating referees being removed from the process just that a panel made up of solely referees will never eradicate bad decisions. I think a mixed panel including ex players is the right way to go. Players will have a better insight into the mentality of the transgressors whilst the referees know the laws of the game. One without the other is only half a story.

7 hours ago, Foreveram said:

I assume you watched Franny Lee “win” a number of penalties for us.

Franny Lee was the exception not the rule when he played.

6 minutes ago, sage said:

Thats the third condescending remark you've made. 

I'm no spring chicken and have watched plenty of football. The game has changed. The ball has changed, boirs have changed, pitches are better.

Just because I can recognise the game of today, doesn't mean I don't understand and appreciate the past.

No doubt you will continue to build strawman arguments and I'm happy to leave you to it 

 

My apologies if I upset you but I get so fed up with the view that modern football is ground breaking.

In my opinion modern football has cast a spell over fans and the more we pay players the less we expect of them. Cheating is accepted as part of the game whether that is 'simulation', shirt pulling, wrestling at corners, arguing with the referee, or just plain old gaining 10 or 15 yards with a throw in. Winning is demanded whatever the cost and this issue is just another small example of fans accepting excuses from the game to justify poor attitude and behavior from the people that take the most out of the game.

I am happy at this small win over the players, when bending a rule has actually come back to kick them in the boll*cks. I think that we should all rejoice but I guess it's each to their own

Just now, sage said:

Because the modern player crosses it with more pace and the ball curls more.

 

???

The ball only curls because of the technique they use to kick it. It's a choice not a necessity.

If you think that players weren't taking outswinging and inswinging corners 50 years ago then you need to educate yourself and watch the Championship winning Derby County teams from the seventies as a starting point.

Until there is a complete emphasis change in VAR there will be no improvement.

It is supposed to help improve the game but at the moment it is run by referees for the benefit of referees. They have commandeered this as their domain where they control how it is run and how much information they release or conceal.

It should not be their gift to do that, it should be an open process with others involved, ex players would be a valuable addition as would somebody who understands the limitations and the scope offered by the technology.

Until changes are made we might as well do without it, there is no less controversy in the leagues that have VAR, than those that don't. That should tell you everything you need to know

1 minute ago, sage said:

It isn't. The players curl the ball so much, that the further you are away from the by line when you start, the nearer you can deliver the ball to the goal, without it curling out for a goal kick.

Physics

Physics? ?

Alan Hinton didn't have to try and gain half a balls width when taking a corner. Didn't physics exist in the seventies?

maybe modern players should practice missing the first man instead of practicing balancing a ball on the wrong side of a line just so that they can feel like they're getting away with something

24 minutes ago, sage said:

So placing the ball in the correct area then, according to the rules.

There is a clear advantage when taking an outswinging corner. 

No it isn't.

It is easy to take an out swinging corner when the ball is inside the quadrant. I know I've taken hundreds. 

Don't just believe the modern thinking and utter bullsh*t that players come out with these days.

Live by the sword and die by the sword.

For a few years now, players have been pushing the overhanging ball to the limit when taking a corner even though there is almost no gain to be made by doing so. 

I therefore, have no sympathy for any players, or teams that suffer a perceived injustice due officials using the same rules.

Unlucky Germany, have a nice flight home

Not a fan, and I find it hard to believe that he is a Paul Warne type of player.

Always struck me as a lazy player who played when it suited him. He never seemed to enjoy the game either, he played with the face of somebody that was being forced to play by somedy that had kidnapped his kids.

Add to that the fact that his flashes of quality were so few and far between, its a definite no thanks from me.

It must have been nice for the F*rest fans last night, they were able to watch a match that they were actually trying to win.

1 minute ago, Diego said:

When was the last time we carried out a routine / no frills win? 

Sure it’s a Derby thing for years now. I remember still being worried when we were 3 up at HT to Forest in 13/14. 

Cambridge away 10 games ago

6 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I’d be surprised if this team doesn’t finish in our lowest ever position, therefore the worst team in our history? How else could you quantify it?

Just because something happened before you became a fan doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

We won't finish in our lowest ever position so I'll use my eyes and my knowledge of football to make a judgement, and I've watched quite a few worse Rams teams than this current one in my 50+ years of watching.

3 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

It’s a disgusting result. An absolute shambles, but this isn’t a great football team so it isn’t a surprise.

This is the worst Derby County side in the club’s 138 history. We need to acknowledge that and adjust our expectations. 

Don't be ridiculous. Are you twelve? They aren't even the worst derby team this century

Forsyth just said that the ref asked him if he was the one who fouled the forward for the penalty, so he clearly didn't see what happened and guessed it should be a sending off. Forsyth said to the ref that it wasn't up to him to tell the ref what happened.

To me it is a startling indictment of how bad the ref actually was.

For those saying we can't blame the ref, if Cashin stays on we win and it wasn't a red.

Forsyth was clearly covering and in those conditions with ten men it was always Going to be difficult with one man short

I thought that we were poor second half but the ref was worse. 

We didn't manage to hold the ball up at all once we went down to ten men, Dobbin, Osula and Collins all guilty of terrible decisions in possession. 

If you didn't know better you'd believe that the ref had a dressing down at half time for being too fair.

I like most on here have watched years of football and seen thousands of players but sometimes you don't appreciate how good a player is until he plays for your team.

Nathaniel Mendez Laing falls into that category for me. I've always considered him a bit of a flighty player who is largely anonymous, a bit lazy but who might get you an occasional goal. Having now watched him for a dozen or so games I think that he is a quality player, with bags of skill, a team ethic and who isn't afraid to work his socks off. I'm surprised how many of our goals he seems to be at the heart of.

In my opinion he is probably our signing of the summer and if we are going to be successful it will be due, in a large part to him.