The Art of Defence

It's a corner and there's a bit of holding and shirt pulling going on in the box - which spoils any chance of it being a fair competition of athleticism i.e. who can fairly win the header.

Wouldn't totally stamping down on shenanigans make it a fair competition for both defenders and attackers and in doing so increase the number of goals scored - a truer reflection of reality without cheating?

Wouldn't that be good for the game?

Disagree completely with the stamping down approach, seems to me the FA like to focus on one issue each year and have a blitz, I see no value in this as next year it will be another fad that catches their eye.

The refs should be focusing on delivering consistency so if they are not giving it to one side they don't give it to any, that results in a fair competition.

Focusing on a single issue like holding in the box or dissent will result in a few high profile cards / pens for the first couple of weeks and then the focus will be lost and we will be back to where we started.

If a defender grabs an attacking player's shirt on the halfway line as he's trying to run towards goal, it's a free kick.

If he's deemed to be the "last man" and is "preventing a goal scoring opportunity" (despite the incident taking place 49 yards from the goal), he gets sent off.

So why should shirt pulling in the box be treated differently?

So I agree with Lusty.

However........knowing how the Prem works (and by extension the FL), I can't see this ever being tackled properly, so I also agree with Fab.

If the refs were given clear instructions to stamp it out by awarding free kicks every time they saw some shoving / pulling / wrestling in the box, we'd suddenly see three or four penalties being awarded in every game.

And if one of the "big" teams lost 5-4 as a result, their manager would be allover the media saying what a poor game the ref had had and said ref would probably find himself "rested" for a few weeks.


Can you imagine what Mourinho would be like if Utd lost 4-1 to Hull at Old Trafford?


And given how the refs all appear to want to be celebrities nowadays, I can't see any of them being prepared to be the first one to risk it.

Yes it would require a completely different approach to the game and players and refs would have to adapt, but at least it would be honest.
And I don't like cheating in any form whether it's diving, trying to influence the ref or sneaky little fouls because having trained to be the fastest to take possession and control of the ball in every circumstance it doesn't sit well if a player is cheated out of it.
Where it becomes a grey area is when two or more players are challenging and in trying to get their bodies into the right place and shape there is legal contact e.g. shoulder to shoulder as it is seldom equal so it will always be a subjective decision as to whether the line between fair and illegal has been crossed.
But holding a player down or pulling his shirt is just downright cheating in my book - even though I do it myself because I was taught to.

How it is administrated is another issue altogether, but surely if something is right it should be instituted in the law and all efforts made to ensure it's enforced?

Mike Dean gave a penalty to Stoke yesterday for exactly that. Raheem Sterling had his back to the ball on a corner and instead was facing Ryan Shawcross and his only aim was to block him off with no attempt to even bother looking where the ball was. The ref saw this and gave a penalty. Tbf it looked incredibly soft but if your only aim is to try and impede the man rather than compete with him for the ball then it has to be a foul, whether it's inside the box or not. My only concern is that a contact sport is being sterilised to the point of stupidity. For someone who is supposed to be a great tactition, Guardiola made a big mistake having the smallest player on the team marking one of the most dangerous assets Stoke have on set pieces, and paid the price.

Bwfc1958 wrote:Mike Dean gave a penalty to Stoke yesterday for exactly that. Raheem Sterling had his back to the ball on a corner and instead was facing Ryan Shawcross and his only aim was to block him off with no attempt to even bother looking where the ball was. The ref saw this and gave a penalty. Tbf it looked incredibly soft but if your only aim is to try and impede the man rather than compete with him for the ball then it has to be a foul, whether it's inside the box or not. My only concern is that a contact sport is being sterilised to the point of stupidity. For someone who is supposed to be a great tactition, Guardiola made a big mistake having the smallest player on the team marking one of the most dangerous assets Stoke have on set pieces, and paid the price.

Yeah - they debated it on MOTD 2.

Sterling never even attempted to look at the ball, and was completely focussed on blocking Shawcross's run so a midget who is crap in the air successfully spoiled the chance for Shawcross who is a decent header of the ball - blatant cheating in my book - and Mike Dean's apparently.

The incident highlighted how Sterling was under instructions to cheat and this was an obvious example, but the issue is much broader than that.

They need to stamp it out and accept that more goals will be scored which is a good thing for the game.