Fan The Flames

A guy at work is off this week on a Babymoon, a little pre-birth holiday for the couple.

I don't think anyone is demanding beautiful goals every week. But it would have been good to see a bit more cutting edge up front. We should have got another goal and taken the pressure of ourselves. Still it was good to see we stood up to the pressure at the end. Good result, average performance.

Average performance but encouraging signs that RM can be pragmatic.

He keeps getting sucked in.

Apart from free kicks

Stupid northern twats booing Smallbone.

But you are still talking about the deficiencies of VAR, just like there are deficiencies in using the naked eye, that wasn't your original point. In either system a yes no decision is called, there is no uncertainty as far as the game is concerned. We know that's not actually the case but accept it as being as good as it can be. Although fans, managers and pundits didn't accept it and this is why we have VAR. Anyway I am getting boring now, so I shall leave it at that.

Dark forces want Man City to win the league.

The Leeds player is offside but he's not challenging for the ball or stopping Armstrong play it. I had a discussion with a ref when we had something similar at our kids game, the fact that the player being in an offside position entices Armstrong to play the ball is ok and the fact that Armstrong's clearance is poor is just tough luck.

It's very tight.

But it was the first part of the law we were talking about. Whatever the intentions of the original law are irrelevant, it has changed loads over times over the years. It is what the governing body is now doing that's relevant, and it has chosen to manage the law in top flight football using pseudo-scientific methods, the body is clearly defined and the nose or toenail is part of the body. Whether you like VAR or not is a different argument, there are clearly deficiencies with VAR and that is another discussion. But the fact remains, offside in this manner is a matter of fact, yes or no, just like has the ball crossed the goal line or not.

Where was that from, I'll like to see that.

Firstly that is not the whole law as you've missed out section one, the most important section. Secondly, you still haven't answered my question. Put aside the inactive stuff, I said early on that everyone understands this bit to be nuanced and therefore could be subjective. Where is the subjectivity in your everyday 'toenail type' offside decisions?

A twist on the classic Spitting Image 'and what about the vegetables?' Truss will be pleased with the comparison.

I love Portsmouth having a good start to the season, it makes the 9th place finish even sweeter.

Dan Wootton should just fuck off back to his own country.

Because there isn't a mechanism to correct a mistake made by VAR, which is ironic as VAR is the mechanism to correct on field mistakes. It's obviously a fundamental flaw with the VAR set up. But it's no surprise this flaw wasn't foreseen, because referees arrogantly believe that they are infallible. They understand mistakes can happen on the field because of the speed of the game, but if they are given time and numerous views, the black law gods would never be wrong.

I'm not so wrong. I get that you are a referee and that inactive play has brought some subjectivity into it. But the classic offside in the 'toenail type' decisions where they draw the line, is about whether the receiving player is offside when the ball was kicked. The is no subjectivity there, the moment the ball is kicked is defined, the line of offside is defined and the body parts that can be offside are defined. Name me a situation where the player who recieves the ball can be in an offside position when the ball is played, without something happening in between.

Fundamentally it is a yes no question. There are the nuances around being active and inactive but at the heart of offside and in the majority of cases, is the factual question 'was the player receiving the ball offside when the ball was kicked'.

Material advantage isn't the law, offside is a yes or no decision. It doesn't matter where the line is drawn, there will always be toenail decisions. Otherwise it's subjective, and if its subjective there will be more frustratingly wrong decisions, where the bigger clubs normally benefit.

I thought that, before I went to Wentworth a few times to watch the PGA Championship. Watching elite golfers tee off, like the machines they are is amazing. The idea is to mix up your positions throughout the day, a bit behind the tee, a bit around a green or two, pick a group and follow them for a while, a bit in the bar, a bit in the gallery. It's a good day out. I'm not a golfer but enjoy watching it on TV and live, there's something going on all the time and watching most elite level sport live is pretty good.

That's very thin evidence.

About time. Still searching for a clean sheet.

Who are we losing to today?