Thread by @DaleJohnsonESPN

Ok, a Wednesday VAR thread on the suggested change to the offside law.

To explain why I think it could be one of the worst ideas I've ever heard, solves nothing, and to introduce without testing has the potential to ruin football worldwide for a year and make Euro 2020 a joke.

Let's start by saying a law change is usually a long process.

Law changes are usually agreed by the IFAB Board in December, discussed by the Technical Sub Committee in January and then the final vote happens in March (or Feb 29 this year).

To my knowledge, from speaking to people at the IFAB who should know, there are no major law changes planned this year.

There will be some protocol and interpretation tweaks, but no wholesale changes like we have seen in recent seasons. So it would be a big shift in process.

Now, to explain why changing the offside law to any part of the player being onside is bad.

For one, we are letting Hawk-eye VAR rule the millions of people who play and watch football. Hawk-eye VAR is in a handful of major leagues, yet it's going to shape everyone's experience?

Let's start with the practicalities and how it will "end marginal armpit and toenail offsides".

It won't. What do people think will happen here? The VAR stops looking at offside?

No. The VAR will still check EVERY goal for offside. It is just checking at a different point.

The VAR still has to, and will, check for marginal offsides.

The VAR still has to, and will, get the crosshair tech out.

The VAR still has to, and probably will, disallow just as many marginal goals as it does now. The measurement point is just in another place.

The only way this law change creates more goals is by giving a huge advantage to the attack.

In terms of the number of goals that will be disallowed by the VAR, it doesn't change a single thing. The VAR will check every goal, and the VAR will find players marginally offside.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to consider a change to offside purely on two players running for the ball against each other 30 yards from goal.

It doesn't consider scenarios like free-kicks into the box. Advantage given to the attack in this scenario is huge.

I'm obviously a true professional with the magic wand tool, but here's a crude image I made to show how far Raheem Sterling could be "onside" on a free-kick with this new law.

NB: This would still face a delay for crosshair tech to be applied to see if Sterling is onside.

Also, this is a good example from a few years ago. The circled Chelsea player here would now be onside, because his toe is level with the defender's heel.

If this is brought in without proper trials, it risks ruining football for a full season.

When the backpass rule was brought in - the last truly major change and this would be as big, it had months of trials.

The 1991 FIFA U17 World Championship was the first testing ground.

But Wenger's plan suggests we throw this new offside law into Euro 2020 without any testing, with linesmen having no experience.

Let's make this clear: linesmen naturally judge offside with the forward lean of players and their shirts (er, armpit?), not on heels and heads.

In the late 1980s, it was proposed that you could no longer be offside from a free-kick.

A trial phase was applied in the Conference (National League).

While initially successful, it turned into a disaster with defences purely sitting in the six-yard box to remove space.

And so that law change was binned. It was an interesting idea, but proved to be totally ineffective and actually had huge tactical implications for the game.

This HAS TO BE THE SAME in respects. In fact it may be worse, as it could force the defence back in open play.

So, just like the free-kick law change, we will almost certainly see more goals initially. But will the game benefit, or will teams react tactically for it to be a negative?

Without trials we have no way for knowing. That's why every major law change should have trials.

Let's think about linesmen in non-VAR leagues. They won't be able to see the trailing leg of the strikers at times, especially in crowded situations, meaning it is impossible to judge.

They naturally look for the lean of the striker's shirt against the shirt of the opposition.

There is nothing wrong with the offside law, the issue is how you apply that effectively in the handful of leagues that use Hawk-eye VAR - not to rip up the way football is played by millions around the world.

It won't remove any marginals. They will just be different marginals.

The linesman will still be keeping his flag down on what turns out to be a marginal offside decision on the heel, which the VAR will show to be marginally offside.

It's the same line in a different place. Scored goals will still be disallowed. Just on a new line.

Wenger's offside law IMPOSSIBLE.

Arsene Wenger's proposed overhaul of offside is "impossible" to be introduced into the Laws of the Game for next season or for Euro 2020, the boss of football's lawmakers tells ESPN. espn.co.uk/football/engli…