The Football League thread II

I feel like that is genuinely what a footballer SHOULD do in that situation.

Tactically it makes sense.

Not necessarily though, the prime. Example is Suarez v Ghana back in WC2010 - handling it stopped the goal that would have knocked them out, and they went on to win on penalties. Now, how do Ghana benefit in that situation?


Posted from TSR Mobile

In the case of somebody preventing a goal by deliberate handball I think a 'penalty goal' should be awarded and the offender booked.

For cases where it's denying an 'obvious goalscoring opportunity' it's a bit harder. I recently re-qualified as a referee and we were told that IFAB is considering an amendment to the rules on this whereby only if the penalty is missed does the offender get sent off and if it's outside the area I assume automatic red.

This is still open to abuse though as a team might decide to deliberately miss to get a one man advantage.

But even if the penalty is missed they were still given the 'obvious goalscoring opportunity' by having that penalty - there is no guarantee that the attacking team would have scored had the foul not been committed...

SLF is criticising the rules, not the player.


Posted from TSR Mobile

No but it's as much to do with the intent to stop someone scoring as it is with the goal being prevented. It's the sort of attitude FIFA want to phase out. A penalty 9 times out of 10 will be harder to score than the opportunity which got denied by a foul.

Open goals, for instance.

I can see the logic, but I'm not sure if I agree that the penalty will be harder to score than the chance that was denied. A quick search suggests that 85% of penalties are scored (OK, those are stats for the Premier League but I don't imagine the Football League will be too different), whereas I would guess less than 85% of the chances which result in a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity are scored (the attacker could miss, the keeper could save it, one of the defenders might get back and make a fair challenge). I couldn't quickly find any stats on one-on-one chances though, so maybe it would be over 85% scored I don't know...

I think what is being got at is that cheating your opponent of a clear chance of scoring a goal is the sort of thing the higher ups are keen to phase out. It's a difficult thing to decide on as both sides of the coin are equally valid I think, but stopping a ball going in with your hands being punished with a penalty is something I don't agree with. You take what would have been a certain goal and replace it with a chance of missing.

A penalty goal and yellow card for the offender would be enough.

In that case maybe deliberate handball by an outfield player to stop a goal should be a separate offence, not "denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity" but rather "denying a clear goal"? To punish that with a penalty goal though, the officials would have to be sure it was actually going in (think Oxlade-Chamberlain against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this season) or they would be making up a goal that never was.

The situation where I do agree to an extent is where the foul happens outside the box when it was a clear goal-scoring opportunity (one-on-one with the keeper with the defender having little to no chance of making a fair challenge in time) - that is a bit harder as a free-kick won't have as high a chance of being converted as a penalty or probably even the chance that was denied.

I'm not sure whether to be sad or happy about Rovrum going up. On one hand they're essentially a rather annoying and small section of Sheff Utd with Steve Evans at the helm. The only benefits being a local away day and a 'derby' cup final to look forward to. Think i'm sad more than anything