It's Monday VAR thread time, which has turned out to be more detailed than I originally planned.
- West Brom vs. Liverpool
- Chelsea vs. Leicester
Wasn't much else to discuss across the weekend, really...
Starting with the free kick Mike Dean gave to Liverpool, which led indirectly to Mo Salah's goal. Only the referee can answer this for you.
The referee is part of the game so it shouldn't be a free kick, and the ball didn't hit him so it shouldn't be a dropped ball. 🤷♂️
Let's dissect the disallowed West Brom goal, which would have given them a 2-1 lead.
Obviously, some see this as controversial. And giving offside against a player who doesn't play the ball is, by its nature, a subjective aspect of the offside law.
This is the image which confirmed the on-field decision, offside.
The key section of the law: "preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision."
Important: Doesn't mean whether you can SEE the ball or not.
Critical question:
Does Phillips' position in front of Alisson have an impact on how he can play the ball, how quickly he may react?
We're not talking about Phillips blocking Alisson's movement, but how he may be able to challenge for the subsequent ball.
Crucial fact: Whether Alisson will *definitely* save the ball when it drops to Bartley isn't important. It's whether Phillips impacts his ability to do so.
The law does not judge the ability to complete the save, but being able to play the ball.
To underline, line of vision is not about being able to see the ball (though it can be a factor).
As such, the offside law doesn't discriminate against tall goalkeepers who can see over shorter attackers.
It's how a player in an offside position in the line of vision impacts.
It doesn't matter that the initial header is going wide, or that a different player scored. It's only if the offside player prevented Alisson being able to play that ball.
Otherwise any team would put a player in an offside position on the keeper as a distraction to the play.
Obviously, as this is a subjective element there will be a few referees who disagree that Alisson was impacted, that's natural, but there is no chance whatsoever the VAR would advise a review on the evidence available.
And of course this isn't the first time we have seen goals disallowed for offside due to a player (who didn't touch the ball) in the goalkeeper's line of vision to the ball.
These are just two examples, but there are plenty of others.
On Leicester's goal against Chelsea, and claims for handball against Ayoze Perez.
It can't be accidental handball leading to a goal. Law states this would only applicable if the handball were by the scorer (Youri Tielemans) or the creator (Luke Thomas).
To see some comments off at the pass, Liverpool's goal at Tottenham was ruled out for deliberate handball in the attacking phase by Roberto Firmino.
It was not ruled out for accidental attacking handball.
Which leaves deliberate handball, or making your body bigger.
Perez goes to block with his knee, and the ball deflects onto the arm from close range. The deflection is absolutely key and changes the scope of any decision the VAR has to make.
Without the deflection it's different - as with the first half with handball against Thiago Silva.
Perez's arm isn't fully outstretched, and in an expected position for his body movement.
I doubt a VAR would ever judge it as a clear and obvious error for deliberate handball.
On the disallowed Ben Chilwell goal. There's no point going over loads of old ground so I'll cover a couple of points.
First, Chilwell looks offside to the naked eye when you look at the two players in relation to the line of the penalty area.
Secondly, kick point (I've explained this several times).
The VAR has three consecutive frames. Protocol is to select the first frame which show the foot has been in contact with the ball. Therefore, it can look like the ball is moving. This is the same in every league.
It's obviously one of the issues with the tech as used today.
If you want to read all about how the offside tech works, and its true various flaws, I did a long thread on this in October.
Let's not end without mentioning that a delayed offside flag allowed play to continue in the Newcastle v Man City game, which led to a penalty which was ruled out for offside.
But the offside decision was wrong, and was overturned to bring Newcastle a goal.
And as I often say, what you see from the VAR Hub is the choice of the broadcaster.
Sky / BT have access to the feed and images, and it is they who decide what VAR you see.
Sky didn't show the Harry Kane goal VAR offside check process or final image. Here it is.
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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.