Few tweets to go through West Ham United's disallowed goal against Chelsea, Tomas Soucek's ruled out for offside.
Obvious similarities to the Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton v Man United).
On both occasions the VAR was Jonathan Moss, so he was consistent. #WHUFC#CFC#WHUCHE
That it took 3 minutes and 30 seconds is not good.
Moss really didn't need to use full calibration, which added much time. Clear Michail Antonio was in front of the last defender and in an offside position from one line.
So this is now a subjective decision, not factual.
Personally - and as this is a subjective decision we can all have different opinions - I think this is more harsh than the Everton example.
For me, the position of Sigurdsson has a much greater impact on De Gea, than Antonio has on Kepa.
Once you take into account Jonathan Moss is the VAR, and he gave the Everton offside, this was always likely to be disallowed.
Remember, it doesn't matter if you think Kepa would have saved it, he only has to be impacted by the presence of Antonio in his line of sight.
Here's the offside calculation, which clearly shows there was no need for Jonathan Moss to go to full calibration.
It would have taken quite some effort for Antonio's head to be onside from full calibration.
This process accounted for 52 seconds out of the 3 mins 30 secs.
Of course, as this is a subjective decision we should be seeing the match referee go to the pitchside monitor next season to make the decision themselves.
One addition note on the penalty conceded by Wilfred Ndidi for Leicester at Everton. No doubt #EFC fans are wondering why this go this one, and not the Dele Alli handball against Tottenham...
Two additional images on the Tomas Soucek offside here. A good illustration of the impact Michail Antonio could have on Kepa.
And, of course, Cesar Azpilicueta.
I've just heard some pundits say this shouldn't have been given as a penalty by the VAR. Come on, now. It's a stonewall penalty.
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🔺 How the 31 teams qualified
🔺 Inter Miami and Messi?
🔺 The old Club World Cup still exists!
🔺 Will it be competitive?
🔺 Player burnout?
🔺 Format
🔺 Match dates
🔺 Draw on Thursday
🔺 Venues
🔺 Trophy
- No group can feature more than one team from the same confederation except UEFA, with 12 teams
- Pot 1 will have paired seedings based on the confederation rankings
- Pot 1 teams go to position 1
- Inter Miami will play the opening match
The full match schedule comprising the stadium and kick-off time for each fixture will be finalised and published once the draw has taken place, taking into account a range of factors including sporting and player-centric criteria, local and fans and broadcast considerations.
Had clarification of World Cup draw conditions. We know a few more things.
- England 75% chance of group of 5
- Wales definitely group of 5
- Northern Ireland 85.71% chance of group of 5
- Rep of Ireland & Scotland definitely group of 4
Thread to explain, and here are the pots.
The specific conditions over the 4 and 5 team groups depended on the number of teams in each pot who needed a QF/playoff.
As the number is lower than 6 in pots 2 and 3, it can now be confirmed playoff teams in Pots 2 and 3 (Scotland, ROI) will definitely be in a group of 4.
There are 10 teams in Pot 1 who need a QF/playoff but only 6 groups of four.
The 4 "QF winners" automatically get a group of 4.
That leaves two groups of 4, and six groups of 5 randomly filled with "QF losers", Austria, Belgium, England, Switzerland.
Why don't leagues have a chip in the ball for semi-automated VAR offside?
🖥️ Tech by Kinexon
⚽️ Centre-mounted chip in ball developed & patented by Adidas
❌ No league uses Adidas
Adidas would need to share/licence, or other ball companies find an alternative to house chip.
Who are the ball manufacturers for the different leagues?
Premier League (Nike this season, Puma from 2025-26)
LaLiga (Puma)
Bundesliga (Derbystar)
Serie A (Puma)
Ligue 1 (Kipsta)
Kinexon has worked with Adidas, Derbystar and Puma so far.
It's not easy to overcome, as Kinexon went through 1000s of prototypes until it achieved a ball that was actually FIFA-approved, in weight and the counterweight and the balance, and that provided good results.
So it's not as simple as saying "put a chip in the ball".
🔷 How many places in Champions League for Serie A
🔷 What happens to place in UCL for the UEL titleholders
🔷 What happens to seeding for the 2024-25 UCL, 👀 Barcelona
Pull up a chair a moment.
1. How many places will Serie A get in the Champions League?
We know Italy will have 5 teams in the UCL next season as they have one of the 2 extra places for league performance.
Atalanta are 5th. If they finish 5th, and 5th only, Italy will have 6 teams in the UCL.
AS Roma are guaranteed to finish in 6th, so they are left waiting on Atalanta's final position.
If Atalanta finish 5th, AS Roma will be in the UCL.
If Atalanta finish 3rd or 4th, AS Roma will be in the UEL.
Atalanta sit two points outside the top 4 with a game in hand.
Sick of keepers holding the ball for 30-40 seconds to waste time or slow down play?
The [unenforced] law says a keeper can only hold the ball for 6 seconds. Any longer and it's an indirect FK to the opposition.
We now have details of The IFAB trial to change it.
Thread. 👇
As well as wasting time, a goalkeeper holding the ball for too long is considered an unfair tactic because the opposing team has no possibility to regain possession.
That's because a goalkeeper cannot be challenged when in control of the ball with the hand(s).
A keeper holding the ball for more than 6 seconds should be punishable by an indirect free kick.
However, we have got to the stage where this is rarely enforced by referees, which in recent years has been exploited tactically.