Jamie Carragher has opposed Arsene Wenger’s reported proposed rule change in football on X.
The former Arsenal boss, now currently working for FIFA as the organisation’s Chief of Global Football Development, is understood to be pushing a change to the offside rule.
This would see attackers handed a greater advantage, with offsides requiring forwards to first be fully clear of the last defender.
This will be terrible for the game as teams will defend completely differently than we see now. Lots of lows blocks & teams being negative. How would you defend a set piece!!
We don’t need more advantage for the attacker, the game is seeing more goals scored than ever!!!! https://t.co/7Vm8zzMnPo— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) May 23, 2024
It’s a decision which, Carragher rightly notes, could be hugely damaging for sides playing a high line – like Liverpool.
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The Premier League’s record year for goals
Whilst we can debate about the quality of defending in the English top-flight this term, the reality is this has been one of the more exciting seasons for goal output.
Implementing a rule change that would likely see clubs reel back any risk-taking in their style of play, however, shouldn’t be seen as a good thing for the development of the sport.
Issue a trial period by any means to prove us otherwise, but we could see this being one rule change that won’t be well-received across the board.
It just doesn’t seem worth it for the sake of “clarifying” offside calls in future.
Wenger talks coswallop most of the time.
AS Usual Carragher has no idea.
The Offside rule was NEVER intended to be a decision of millimetres!
If Carragher had any idea of the history of the game, the rule was intended to stop attacking teams leaving a striker next to the opposition goal keeper.
If a striker manages to get a few inches clear of the defender, that is just poor defending. The defender got beaten, and needs to pay closer attention, fair play to the striker.
The game is about scoring goals NOT finding ways to disallow them (ie VAR & 1 millimetre offsides).
So many old boy pundits who forget the way the game was played, Media desperately needs to use this transfer season to update their squads!
ALL VAR Decisions should be referred to the onfield referee via the screen, ONLY the onfield referee to make ANY decisions!
I understand your point but the game is a good deal faster than when the law was originally written and I mean a good good deal faster. Players have been clocked at speeds similar to Olympic sprinters which means that couple of inches does make a difference. A lot more difference than it would 20 or 30 years ago. Adjusting for that difference due to a rule change will definitely affect how teams defend.
Neither do you! What Wenger is proposing is to give attackers an already unfair advantage. Might as well take away the offside rule altogether. More goals are being scored now than ever before and your idea that it should be about better defending is as ludicrous as saying attackers need more advantage. Attackers already get given enough, maybe they should find better ways around defenders.
IMHO administrators are making things way more complicated than they should be. Football should be simple, but it takes Wenger and others, yourself included, to make a simple game complicated.
you will always get 1mm off sides no matter what the rules is
I’m not sure I see how this change will make decisions any less debatable. The argument about clear daylight between two players will be as marginal as which players toenail was ahead of the others and still dependant on lines drawn on TV.