VAR

[Pat Mustard]

You try diving to make a save without moving the foot forward that you are pushing off a little bit, it just isn't effective. Keepers will have to start behind the line slightly if this is enforced which is ridiculous. They're not crabs. It is pretty easy to tell when a keeper is taking the piss which makes it subjective but so what?

Absolutely right - how difficult can it be to just say the keeper has to be on or behind the line when the ball is struck and after that anything is fair game?  Otherwise, if the most important thing is to give the advantage to the team that has won the penalty then you might as well just automatically award the fouled team a goal.

[Lastfootstamper]

It's a penalty, it's not supposed to be fair. That's why the taker gets a run-up, and the keeper can't move.

[Pat Mustard]

It's a penalty, it's not supposed to be fair. That's why the taker gets a run-up, and the keeper can't move.

I don't disagree with that, but this latest clarification is basically saying to the keeper we are going to tie your legs together as well!

[WilliamStanding]

Not really - GK can still move along the line and step behind if he wants to leap forward- nothing really changes so not a lot to see here

[Pat Mustard]

But the clarification will make a massive difference if fully enforced.  Have a look back at the shoot-out in the play-off semi-final and see the positioning of both keepers.  If this approach had applied then every single saved penalty would have had to be retaken.

EDIT - I mean every pen that wasn't scored, not necessarily saved.  To me it's just that this is again just going to introduce even more decisions for VAR to cock-up, as if it wasn't ruining enough of the game already.

[Lastfootstamper]

But those were the rules anyway, they've not changed. The issued statement is really just to point out that VAR now falls under the auspices of FIFA, and what level of intrusion we can expect away from the pitch.

I don't know how much of the Women's World Cup people saw last year, but the penalty interference from VAR was overly picky. It was, I think, used earlier in the season in the PL, but they stopped scrutiny from early in the new year. I think it's pretty clear; you cheat, you save it or clear it, it gets retaken. Player misses, you did nothing to effect or affect the miss, carry on.

But as ever with all things regulatory, we'll have to wait to see what happens when it's eventually implemented.

[Lastfootstamper]

But the clarification will make a massive difference if fully enforced.  Have a look back at the shoot-out in the play-off semi-final and see the positioning of both keepers.  If this approach had applied then every single saved penalty would have had to be retaken.

EDIT - I mean every pen that wasn't scored, not necessarily saved.  To me it's just that this is again just going to introduce even more decisions for VAR to cock-up, as if it wasn't ruining enough of the game already.

It would only apply to the saved penalties, not Bert's bar blazer. It'd be hard for anyone to say Johnstone had a material impact on one missing by that much!

And as for your very last point, I couldn't agree more. It's a genie that should never have been let out of its bottle, but the ever more vigilant eye of the telly camera made its arrival inevitable. And once we got to a situation where broadcasters were touting their tech to football to 'help' it enforce its own rules, it was all f***** beyond redemption.

[LeeB]

It seems, to me at least, that the way VAR has been constructed and applied in this country was specifically to allow the same old biased subjectivity we had previously.

Was it 20 penalties for Man Utd this season? Fuck off.

[Risso]

It seems, to me at least, that the way VAR has been constructed and applied in this country was specifically to allow the same old biased subjectivity we had previously.

Was it 20 penalties for Man Utd this season? Fuck off.

That one against us is still pissing me off, even though we stayed up and I've got far more important things to think about but still, fucking hell!

[OCD]

How many of them were made on a VAR decision?

[ez]

The encroachment rule for penalty kicks has always been there it's just that refs have got lazy about enforcing it. It's like the rule that goalkeepers can only have the ball in their hands for 6 seconds. That rule must be broken many times in every game but refs don't penalise it.

[Legion]

I thought that rule had been dropped?

[edgysatsuma89]

It has been a fair few years since we have been awarded more penalties than we conceded in the Premier league so screw it... have the keepers on the 6 yard line.

[CT]

I thought that rule had been dropped?

I assumed that too, unless Ben Foster was using the new 36 second rule.

[Risso]

I thought that rule had been dropped?

I assumed that too, unless Ben Foster was using the new 36 second rule.

Nope, still very much a rule:

"2. Indirect free kick
An indirect free kick is awarded if a player:
• plays in a dangerous manner
• impedes the progress of an opponent without any contact being made • is guilty of dissent, using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or
gestures or other verbal offences
• prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands or kicks
or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of
releasing it
• commits any other offence, not mentioned in the Laws, for which play is
stopped to caution or send off a player
An indirect free kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area, commits any of the following offences:
• controls the ball with the hand/arm for more than six seconds before releasing it
• touches the ball with the hand/arm after releasing it and before it has touched another player"

(From the FA rules section).