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- Kafkaesque
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Lampard has been quizzed about when he was asked by Chelsea's people in charge of transfer, which of his targets he'd prefer. His answer was interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BzSTQCl_c
Damn Kaf, I got hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived! But yeah, sounds about rightKafkaesque wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:46 amLampard has been quizzed about when he was asked by Chelsea's people in charge of transfer, which of his targets he'd prefer. His answer was interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BzSTQCl_c

In other news, Liverpool is now the favorite for the title again, just like that.
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Another load of penalties this weekend too. Have been thinking about why this is happening, have a few theories.
The new handball rule is an obvious one, though none of the 3 penalties against city yesterday were for handball.
A statistical blip is obviously a possibility.
As is the teams may not be fully ready yet after an unusual pre season, so maybe more mistakes are being made early on as players approach full fitness.
Also, teams not yet adjusting to the new rules. I saw a few defenders yesterday doing that silly thing where they try to challenge with their hands behind their back as they are terrified of giving away a penalty.
VAR leading to more being given, though VAR was in play start of last season too.
No crowds. I suppose you could argue that the referee is less likely to be intimidated, though that could work either way. Maybe a ref is more comfortable giving a penalty with no crowd than with one, especially with the chance to review on VAR.
Still on no crowds, maybe the appeals from players seem more genuine , as the crowd will appeal for penalties/free kicks every time a player went down. Also, perhaps the contact can be heard as well as seen, as it echoes around the empty stadium.
The rise of the false number 9 and teams insisting on playing out from the back. I think this is a big factor. Most teams seem to favour fast players running in behind these days, as opposed to more traditional centre forwards who were utilised more to hold the ball up. This is leading to more penalties, as shown in the Man City game yesterday, if you let a player get the wrong side of you, it is very difficult to recover without giving away a penalty. Any contact and the player goes down, and the penalty gets awarded via VAR, even if the player fouled goes down easy, or makes a meal of it .
And some of these teams who insist on playing out from the back just don’t have the personnel in defence to do so. They often get caught , then end up giving away penalties when trying to recover.
Personally I think it’s a combination of the new handball, and faster forward players constantly running in behind. Whatever the reasons, would be surprised if it carried on for too long, as players will adapt, and they might start tweaking the rules a bit, as they are almost averaging a penalty per game at present.
Football never seems to improve for a rule change. Scrapping the back pass rule in the 90’s is the only change I can think of that has been for the better.
The new handball rule is an obvious one, though none of the 3 penalties against city yesterday were for handball.
A statistical blip is obviously a possibility.
As is the teams may not be fully ready yet after an unusual pre season, so maybe more mistakes are being made early on as players approach full fitness.
Also, teams not yet adjusting to the new rules. I saw a few defenders yesterday doing that silly thing where they try to challenge with their hands behind their back as they are terrified of giving away a penalty.
VAR leading to more being given, though VAR was in play start of last season too.
No crowds. I suppose you could argue that the referee is less likely to be intimidated, though that could work either way. Maybe a ref is more comfortable giving a penalty with no crowd than with one, especially with the chance to review on VAR.
Still on no crowds, maybe the appeals from players seem more genuine , as the crowd will appeal for penalties/free kicks every time a player went down. Also, perhaps the contact can be heard as well as seen, as it echoes around the empty stadium.
The rise of the false number 9 and teams insisting on playing out from the back. I think this is a big factor. Most teams seem to favour fast players running in behind these days, as opposed to more traditional centre forwards who were utilised more to hold the ball up. This is leading to more penalties, as shown in the Man City game yesterday, if you let a player get the wrong side of you, it is very difficult to recover without giving away a penalty. Any contact and the player goes down, and the penalty gets awarded via VAR, even if the player fouled goes down easy, or makes a meal of it .
And some of these teams who insist on playing out from the back just don’t have the personnel in defence to do so. They often get caught , then end up giving away penalties when trying to recover.
Personally I think it’s a combination of the new handball, and faster forward players constantly running in behind. Whatever the reasons, would be surprised if it carried on for too long, as players will adapt, and they might start tweaking the rules a bit, as they are almost averaging a penalty per game at present.
Football never seems to improve for a rule change. Scrapping the back pass rule in the 90’s is the only change I can think of that has been for the better.
Interesting write up, i agree there's probably a combination of things going on, will be interesting to see how the season pans out.TraderFred wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:45 pmAnother load of penalties this weekend too. Have been thinking about why this is happening, have a few theories.
The new handball rule is an obvious one, though none of the 3 penalties against city yesterday were for handball.
A statistical blip is obviously a possibility.
As is the teams may not be fully ready yet after an unusual pre season, so maybe more mistakes are being made early on as players approach full fitness.
Also, teams not yet adjusting to the new rules. I saw a few defenders yesterday doing that silly thing where they try to challenge with their hands behind their back as they are terrified of giving away a penalty.
VAR leading to more being given, though VAR was in play start of last season too.
No crowds. I suppose you could argue that the referee is less likely to be intimidated, though that could work either way. Maybe a ref is more comfortable giving a penalty with no crowd than with one, especially with the chance to review on VAR.
Still on no crowds, maybe the appeals from players seem more genuine , as the crowd will appeal for penalties/free kicks every time a player went down. Also, perhaps the contact can be heard as well as seen, as it echoes around the empty stadium.
The rise of the false number 9 and teams insisting on playing out from the back. I think this is a big factor. Most teams seem to favour fast players running in behind these days, as opposed to more traditional centre forwards who were utilised more to hold the ball up. This is leading to more penalties, as shown in the Man City game yesterday, if you let a player get the wrong side of you, it is very difficult to recover without giving away a penalty. Any contact and the player goes down, and the penalty gets awarded via VAR, even if the player fouled goes down easy, or makes a meal of it .
And some of these teams who insist on playing out from the back just don’t have the personnel in defence to do so. They often get caught , then end up giving away penalties when trying to recover.
Personally I think it’s a combination of the new handball, and faster forward players constantly running in behind. Whatever the reasons, would be surprised if it carried on for too long, as players will adapt, and they might start tweaking the rules a bit, as they are almost averaging a penalty per game at present.
Football never seems to improve for a rule change. Scrapping the back pass rule in the 90’s is the only change I can think of that has been for the better.
Motd last night compared the first three week's of this season with the three last. This year there's been 20 penalties vs 8 last year, and 6 for handball this year vs 0 last year.
- wearthefoxhat
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When Lacazette scored Arsenals' opening goal v Liverpool, it was the 100th goal in the Premier League this season..(only Round 3)
- Kafkaesque
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Sorry...saw the oldie but goodie meme with Oldman screaming everyone!!! elsewhere and couldn't help myself.Kai wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:59 pmDamn Kaf, I got hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived! But yeah, sounds about rightKafkaesque wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:46 amLampard has been quizzed about when he was asked by Chelsea's people in charge of transfer, which of his targets he'd prefer. His answer was interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BzSTQCl_c![]()
In other news, Liverpool is now the favorite for the title again, just like that.
Yeah, and rightfully so. Liverpool looks like Liverpool, whereas everyone else look like, well.... The only thing is that Pool look exploitable over the top to an extent I cannot recall in recent years. Perhaps it's simply a case of Bayern setting the new standard of how to play as a top, top team, ie. pushing right up and truly squeezing the space. And this is the new tactical reality, where top teams take on that risk/reward.
Having said that, I wish I had a red button here with multiple camera shots available. I found it extremely interesting, tactically, how things looked whenever Arsenal had position deep in their own half. Whenever they kept passing it square, and only the Arsenal final defensive third was in view, there was more Liverpool players in view than Arsenal players. I would have loved to be able to what the heck was happening further up the pitch. How could Arsenal not find solutions, if they outnumbered Liverpool further up the pitch??? Were their players too static, or was Liverpool's positioning and spacing really that good? I'm slightly surprised someone from the school of Pep couldn't solve that and play through the press (at least a few more times than they did), and very surprised Arteta didn't bring Ceballos sooner. They so clearly needed someone who could beat the press by riding and beating a initial challenge, which neither Xhaka or Elneny can do.
- Kafkaesque
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Some interesting thoughts. I do, however, feel you got it correct at the first time of asking. In that it's a statistical blip. Outside of a few a more handball pens, that is.TraderFred wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:45 pmAnother load of penalties this weekend too. Have been thinking about why this is happening, have a few theories.
The new handball rule is an obvious one, though none of the 3 penalties against city yesterday were for handball.
A statistical blip is obviously a possibility.
As is the teams may not be fully ready yet after an unusual pre season, so maybe more mistakes are being made early on as players approach full fitness.
Also, teams not yet adjusting to the new rules. I saw a few defenders yesterday doing that silly thing where they try to challenge with their hands behind their back as they are terrified of giving away a penalty.
VAR leading to more being given, though VAR was in play start of last season too.
No crowds. I suppose you could argue that the referee is less likely to be intimidated, though that could work either way. Maybe a ref is more comfortable giving a penalty with no crowd than with one, especially with the chance to review on VAR.
Still on no crowds, maybe the appeals from players seem more genuine , as the crowd will appeal for penalties/free kicks every time a player went down. Also, perhaps the contact can be heard as well as seen, as it echoes around the empty stadium.
The rise of the false number 9 and teams insisting on playing out from the back. I think this is a big factor. Most teams seem to favour fast players running in behind these days, as opposed to more traditional centre forwards who were utilised more to hold the ball up. This is leading to more penalties, as shown in the Man City game yesterday, if you let a player get the wrong side of you, it is very difficult to recover without giving away a penalty. Any contact and the player goes down, and the penalty gets awarded via VAR, even if the player fouled goes down easy, or makes a meal of it .
And some of these teams who insist on playing out from the back just don’t have the personnel in defence to do so. They often get caught , then end up giving away penalties when trying to recover.
Personally I think it’s a combination of the new handball, and faster forward players constantly running in behind. Whatever the reasons, would be surprised if it carried on for too long, as players will adapt, and they might start tweaking the rules a bit, as they are almost averaging a penalty per game at present.
Football never seems to improve for a rule change. Scrapping the back pass rule in the 90’s is the only change I can think of that has been for the better.
The rise of the false 9 is a myth imho, and only gained traction because Messi was at the forefront. A quick mental run-through and I'd say 14 of 19 teams play with something quite a bit closer to a classic 9 than a false 9 (I don't include WBA, because I can't make heads or tails of what in the world, Bilic is attempting to do tactically). The remaining five don't even play a false 9 per se; just somewhere in the region of it tactically. Of the 60 lineups so far this season, I'm struggling to think of any false 9 lineup outside of City yesterday, which was out of injury-related necessity.
As for more faster player, it has certainly come more to the forefront over the last 5-10 years, but it hasn't changed over the period since last season imo.
Maybe, just maybe, there's a fair few players around who's just a yard short of sharpness given the short/non-existent preseason and that shows up more with defensive players, and results in pens when they're not quite reacting as fast as they're used to, but that's a statical blip in its own right and will in all likelyhood adjust itself from gameweek 5, post international break.
- firlandsfarm
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MOTD put up a table comparing this season with the same point last season. I didn't take down the stats but only 6 of this year's penalties came from the new interpretation of the handball rule (note: they strongly made the point the rule is unchanged, it's the interpretation that's changed driven by FIFA who want the rule interpreted the same worldwide). As for the rest of the 'additional' penalties they did not discuss so I don't know if another rule/interpretation has changed or the style of play. With the new handball interpretation they even discussed if some players might start looking to chip the ball up onto an arm to gain a penalty!TraderFred wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:45 pmThe new handball rule is an obvious one, though none of the 3 penalties against city yesterday were for handball.
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‘False9’ might not have been the correct term. The majority of matches i watched this weekend had teams with fast players trying to run in behind, or 3 up top.
I just think players like Werner and Aguero are seemingly more in favour than the old fashioned number 9. That Werner looks a fantastic player, can see him scoring loads of goals if they play him up top on his own, he doesn’t need a strike partner, just needs the ball to his feet or to run on to. Could see him getting pissed off on Saturday when they kept crossing it in high.
I just think players like Werner and Aguero are seemingly more in favour than the old fashioned number 9. That Werner looks a fantastic player, can see him scoring loads of goals if they play him up top on his own, he doesn’t need a strike partner, just needs the ball to his feet or to run on to. Could see him getting pissed off on Saturday when they kept crossing it in high.