The Round Ball Game - II

[teamsaint]

I really can't be doing with this offside rule. Doesn't enhance the spirit of the game IMO.

[jayne lee wilson]

Oh....NO!!!

Still time, still time, focus, go again....

Bad to worse......a player short....

***
Tough defeat to take, but if you miss a pen in the 84th..(and not the first missed pen this tournament...)....
But well done England... you've gone far.... and only lost, narrowly, to the probable winners....

[Dave2002]

I really can't be doing with this offside rule. Doesn't enhance the spirit of the game IMO.

I believe it's there for a purpose. One of my friends mentioned that otherwise each side could simply have one player in the area close to the opponent's goal, then the other players would simply boot the ball right up the field to him or her and goals would be much easier to come by.

It was a bit of a shame last night, but the USA look to be a very good team. I suspect they're going to win. England did good (sic !!), as they say.

[Stanfordian]

Same old, same old - England losing!

I enjoyed watching the England games. Sad it came to end like it did. Most promising for the future. Those England centre-halves were weak; one in particular. Players kept giving the ball away. The USA seemed fitter and stronger physically but England should be able to put this right in the next few years. The penalty taker virtually showed the goalie where she was going to place the kick. I don't think England are too far off from being successful.

[teamsaint]

I believe it's there for a purpose. One of my friends mentioned that otherwise each side could simply have one player in the area close to the opponent's goal, then the other players would simply boot the ball right up the field to him or her and goals would be much easier to come by.

It was a bit of a shame last night, but the USA look to be a very good team. I suspect they're going to win. England did good (sic !!), as they say.

Dave, I'm really talking about the current interpretation , which seems to be that any part of the attackers body being ahead of the last defender is deemed an offside, which leads to strikers being given offside for the slightest of " offences".

but I suppose there has to be an interpretation of some kind.

actually, my list of rule changes:

Continue the 18 yard line to the touchline, offside only beyond that line.
Sin bins for fouls where the advantage to the defender is much greater than the advantage of a free kick to the attackers.
stopwatch timing of games, probably 30 mins each way.

And as for the hand ball rule, probably beyond me, but I think the current rule will lead to even more playing for pens, as players blast the ball at opponents bodies rather than cross, pass, or shoot.

England a pleasure to watch in this WC, very unlucky last night, against a team who knew how to look after themselves..........

[Lancashire Lass]

Same old, same old - England losing!

I enjoyed watching the England games. Sad it came to end like it did. Most promising for the future. Those England centre-halves were weak; one in particular. Players kept giving the ball away. The USA seemed fitter and stronger physically but England should be able to put this right in the next few years. The penalty taker virtually showed the goalie where she was going to place the kick. I don't think England are too far off from being successful.

All true and I don't think I've ever been so proud of an England team which lost. The USA were definitely rattled towards the end, I guess their Achilles heel is not being used to teams coming back at them, and if we'd had a more continuous fluent level of passing and positioning in the box instead of just spells -- our opponents were making mistakes as well -- then things might have been different.

I never thought I'd see the wonderful Lucy Bronze cry but somehow the fact such strong women were so emotional -- and of course they were exhausted by the end of the game -- makes them more heroic and inspirational. I do believe that future success comes from present vulnerability.

[Dave2002]

Dave, I'm really talking about the current interpretation , which seems to be that any part of the attackers body being ahead of the last defender is deemed an offside, which leads to strikers being given offside for the slightest of " offences".

but I suppose there has to be an interpretation of some kind.

actually, my list of rule changes:

Continue the 18 yard line to the touchline, offside only beyond that line.
Sin bins for fouls where the advantage to the defender is much greater than the advantage of a free kick to the attackers.
stopwatch timing of games, probably 30 mins each way.

And as for the hand ball rule, probably beyond me, but I think the current rule will lead to even more playing for pens, as players blast the ball at opponents bodies rather than cross, pass, or shoot.

England a pleasure to watch in this WC, very unlucky last night, against a team who knew how to look after themselves..........

I suspected that last night the off-side rule would have discounted that "goal" however it was interpreted, though I didn't look at video. In the case of the penalty - it just looked a mess to me, but I couldn't see that it was a penalty. Perhaps to get that to work one has to go through the video one frame at a time, and take a judgement. Someone obviously decided it was a penalty - so it was unfortunate - for "our" team, but not improbable, that it could be saved.

I'm not up on the rules in football, though I find some tennis decisions very odd. I understand about the use of Hawkeye, but why in some cases the point is awarded, and some cases there's a let or a replay I can't always figure. Maybe there is still human judgement on the "event" by the umpire.

[johncorrigan]

Great goalkeeping from the Dutch has made for a good first half, and kept them in it.

[LMcD]

"We can't buy anybody, that's the fact of it ….. Why do people think we're automatically going to be in the top six? Because we're Ipswich?"
Nobody can accuse Paul Lambert of raising false hopes.

[cloughie]

"We can't buy anybody, that's the fact of it ….. Why do people think we're automatically going to be in the top six? Because we're Ipswich?"
Nobody can accuse Paul Lambert of raising false hopes.

It often takes a while for a fallen giant to rise up again. PL is just being realistic - wise to view top six as a bonus rather than a given! League One will be a tough division and Ipswich were rock bottom most of last season.

[LMcD]

It often takes a while for a fallen giant to rise up again. PL is just being realistic - wise to view top six as a bonus rather than a given! League One will be a tough division and Ipswich were rock bottom most of last season.

My expectations are well and truly screwed down!
We used 22 players for our pre-season friendly against Paderborn - which we lost - and apparently 12 of them were straight from the academy.
The bookies reportedly have us as 2nd favourites, after Sunderland, for promotion, but I think I'll continue to limit my gambling to Premium Bonds.

[cloughie]

My expectations are well and truly screwed down!
We used 22 players for our pre-season friendly against Paderborn - which we lost - and apparently 12 of them were straight from the academy.
The bookies reportedly have us as 2nd favourites, after Sunderland, for promotion, but I think I'll continue to limit my gambling to Premium Bonds.

Are they the same bookies that had Leicester down for relegation the season they won the Prem?

[teamsaint]

From the Graun, the home of almost but not quite lost causes.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/08/fort-william-how-the-worst-football-team-in-britain-kept-their-club-alive

[teamsaint]

My expectations are well and truly screwed down!
We used 22 players for our pre-season friendly against Paderborn - which we lost - and apparently 12 of them were straight from the academy.
The bookies reportedly have us as 2nd favourites, after Sunderland, for promotion, but I think I'll continue to limit my gambling to Premium Bonds.

Doncaster almost never have more than about 7 players for the start of pre season, and they usually do ok.


The thing in L1 is that there are a lot of well drilled teams who have had more or less the same squad for years, especially the better teams.. For clubs like Ipswich, they need to match those clubs for teamwork, and add the bit of skill that their status can attract. and hopefully being at the top end of L1 will be more fun than the bottom end of the Championship.

Big clubs do tend to get out of their pretty quickly, but it is no place for the faint hearted !

[Edgy 2]

From the Graun, the home of almost but not quite lost causes.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...eir-club-alive

I still look for their results,in fact I do so for most of the Forum teams.

Anyway the honour of opening the new National League season at home on telly goes to ....

https://www.live-footballontv.com/live-non-league-football-on-tv.html

and a televised Forum derby in October Anton