Back in the day when VAR was about to come in, I made a comment along the lines of: "all it will mean is that instead of having just 3 officials making at best poor - or at worst biased - decisions, we'll now have 4, 5 or 6 all doing the same thing".

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Re. your first paragraph...the Brighton player "nearer to us" than the guy who stuck the ball in was yards offside. How can it be claimed that he's not interfering with play, when he's a clear attacking option (ie the scorer could have let the ball run on to him) and therefore likely to (or actually did) distract the attention of the goalkeeper and/or defenders. The Liverpool goal in the FA Cup tie against Wolves exposed the fallacy of the way offside is applied. The defender leapt to intercept a high/long ball because he knew a Liverpool player beyond him was likely to receive it. He could not possibly have known that that player was yards offside, so he had to go for it. Because the ball glanced off his head, that player miraculously becomes "not offside". It's absolute nonsense.

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

My 'Link' was in response to a comment that such communication was not "On the table", and I am suggesting that it could well be introduced in the PL based on its trial in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Edited by Willo (14 Feb 2023 9.58am)

Currently "Deliberately" is interpreted as making a conscious effort to make contact with the ball and doing so, and if the ball is diverted into the path of an opposition player who is in an offside position and the players scores the goal is awarded.
This is unambiguous.

If the Law is changed to to redefine "Deliberate" depending on circumstances, this could cause further complications and of course further controversy.

In the Wolves game, the defender might not have even seen the attacker behind him and if so this is no different to a player playing a 'Blind' backpass to the goalkeeper which is intercepted by an attacking player in an offside player who runs through and scores.

Perhaps IFAB in time will amend the LAW giving it far more thought than I have at present !!

Edited by Willo (14 Feb 2023 10.46am)

Not the word 'deliberately' the phrase 'playing the ball'. It suggests intent that is made upon knowledge of whether or not a player is onside or not.

If an attacker is offside then there may be no need to play the ball however a defender cannot be in full knowledge of this as a fact and therefore cannot make an informed decision. Even with technology the officials cannot get it right so I don't understand why there is an expectation of the player to behold this information.

If a player elects to attempt to intercept a ball destined and intended for an offside opponent the offside should precede the playing of the ball in the decision making.

If a player intercepts a backpass they are by definition not offside as an opponent has played the initial and critical action affecting the ball, not a teammate.

Edited by Nicholas91 (14 Feb 2023 11.27am)

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

A ball destined for what could be deemed to be an onside attacker.

In the event the initial play is a ball to an offside attacker. This is not allowed. A defender cannot know whether or not an attacker is onside and therefore cannot make the informed decision. The 'offside pass' is illegal before anything the defender does.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!