Post

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
Click again on or Share Via icon
Click on Copy Link to Tweet
Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
More info at Twitter Help

Dale Johnson

Sep 17, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X

CONFIRMED!

Europa League draw (champions path). Seeded teams (5) will draw an unseeded (11). These are drawn first, leaving 3 all-unseeded ties.

So 5 seeded have 11 options. 11 unseeded could draw anyone.

SEEDED
Dinamo Zagreb
Young Boys
Red Star Belgrade
Qarabag
Dynamo Brest

Europa League draw (champions path)

UNSEEDED
Celtic or Riga/Tre Fiori
Ludogorets Razgrad
Legia Warsaw or Drita
Sheriff Tiraspol or Dundalk
Cluj or Djurgardens
Suduva or KuPS
Sarajevo or Buducnost Podgorica
Dinamo Tbilisi or Ki
Celje or Ararat-Armenia
Flora or Floriana
Tirana

What this means for the unseeded teams, such as Celtic, is the chances of drawing a seeded team are pretty much 50/50. And there is a fair spread of strength in the draw.

The non-champions path (Spurs, Rangers, Aberdeen etc) is still awaiting a few ties to complete.

We're waiting on this game for the main path.

It's 6-6 in extra time and, remarkably, Backa Topola have:
- Gone 3-2 up with 10 men
- Levelled at 4-4 in injury time with 10 men
- Twice equalised in extra time with NINE men.

UEL (main path)

SEEDS
Spurs / Shkendija
Basel / Anorthosis
Besiktas / Rio Ave
Sporting / Aberdeen
Copenhagen / Piast Gliwice
PSV / Mura
Wolfsburg / Desna
Plzen / SonderjyskE
APOEL / Zrinjski
Galatasaray / Hajduk Split
Malmo / Lokomotiva
Partizan / Charleroi
Standard / Vojvodina

UNSEEDED
FCSB / Liberec
Granada / Locomotive Tbilisi
Milan / BodoGlimt
AEK / St Gallen
Rangers or Willem II
LASK / Dunajska Streda
Beer-Sheva / Motherwell
Rosenborg / Alanyaspor
Apollon / Lech
Rostov / Maccabi Haifa
Reims / Fehervar
Rijeka / Kolos Kovalivka
CSKA Sofia / Torshavn

This section of the draw is very simple. 13 ties, with 13 seeded teams drawn against one of the 13 unseeded teams.

The big elephant in the room here? AC Milan are unseeded.....

The Europa League playoff draw is at midday on Friday, btw.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @DaleJohnsonESPN

Dale Johnson

@DaleJohnsonESPN

Apr 16

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.

So, why not enforced the law as it stands today?

Read 12 tweets

Dale Johnson

@DaleJohnsonESPN

Nov 30, 2023

Mauro Icardi's offside in Galatasaray vs. Manchester United gives us a good illustration of how semi-automated technology will be more accurate and reliable - yet may lead to more goals being disallowed.

This was ruled out on the field, but stay with me.

There's a common misconception that handball starts at the bottom of the sleeve.

This isn't the case.

It's the arm point level with the armpit - if you had it by your side - around the whole arm.

Basically, the area of the arm which can't increase body size if you move it.

The starting point for offside (and handball) is therefore an imaginary line on the arm.

With the old tech, the point on the attacker and defender is plotted manually by the VAR and operator.

This obviously has to cause inconsistencies, and it's why there's a tolerance level.

Read 10 tweets

Dale Johnson

@DaleJohnsonESPN

Sep 30, 2023

Ok, here's the nuts and bolts.

This is what happened with the Luis Diaz "goal" which Liverpool had disallowed vs. Tottenham.

There will be a deeper dive in the Monday VAR thread, but in simple terms the VAR took the wrong onfield decision - it led to the goal being disallowed.

So the VAR, Darren England, checked offside thinking the onfield decision was "goal."

It was a quick offside check because it was clear Diaz was onside, so he told the referee "check complete".

In telling the ref "check complete" he is saying the onfield decision was correct.

So the "human error" by the VAR team is getting the onfield decision wrong. Not by failing to draw lines etc.

The lines were drawn and Diaz was clearly onside.

The huge, quite unbelievable error was misunderstanding the onfield decision.

Read 5 tweets

Dale Johnson

@DaleJohnsonESPN

Sep 6, 2023

So the dust has settled on the first VAR audio show of the year with Howard Webb.

Time for a little old-school VAR thread to go through it.

I'll include the video clips.

We got 2 of the 3 big errors in the Premier League this season - the penalty not given against Andre Onana vs. Wolves + the offside goal Man City scored against Fulham.

It didn't include Alexis Mac Allister's red card, which has been the main point of complaint in my comments.

It would have been better to include that Mac Allister red, especially as it was overturned on appeal.

But then if you include Mac Allister, you drop something else (Zaroury?). And you absolutely have to include the examples of good process to show where VAR works.

Read 25 tweets

Dale Johnson

@DaleJohnsonESPN

Aug 11, 2023

Getting lots of comments about Lee Mason's return to PGMOL, and they're fair. I'm surprised too.

But he isn't working in the Premier League, he will be a coach in League One and League Two.

PGMOL is reducing the ratio of coaches to referees, so a lot of roles have been created.

Bottom line is everyone who is appointed as a coach is going to be a former ref, and Lee Mason was obviously vastly experienced.

I've no idea if he will be good as a coach, after a pretty dismal end to his career on the pitch and in the VAR room, but understand the reaction.

Howard Webb said: "We're going to be ensuring that [Lee Mason] is exposed to all the upskilling that our professional coach workforce needs. He went through a pretty thorough assessment process alongside others that have come in as well into this enhanced coaching group.

Read 5 tweets

Dale Johnson

@DaleJohnsonESPN

Jan 26, 2023

FIFA publishes the top 10 international player transfers by total transfer fee in 2022.

Includes:
Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez to Liverpool
Antony, Casemiro to Man United
Erling Haaland to Man City
Alexander Isak to Newcastle
Raphinha to Barcelona

(list is not in fee order)

The domination of English football in the transfer market laid bare.

The top 5 country-to-country transfer routes are all to England.

France to England the most lucrative market in 2022.

Man United the biggest spenders on transfer fees in the world in 2022.

Of the top 10, 7 are Premier League clubs.

Leeds 10th.
Nottingham Forest 14th.
Everton 15th.

Chelsea (16th) might be a bit higher next year.....

Read 5 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

Dale Johnson

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @DaleJohnsonESPN

Dale Johnson

Dale Johnson

Dale Johnson

Dale Johnson

Dale Johnson

Dale Johnson

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Send Email!