My solution for sorting out this offside muddle
Hthe law should in future apply only from the goal-line to the 18-yard line – or only to the penalty area itself
It cannot be right that the laws of football allow Manchester City’s opening goal against Aston Villa in Wednesday night’s Premier League match to stand when they are causing those to be disallowed in which a player’s toe is offside.
What City midfielder Rodri did by dispossessing Villa defender Tyrone Mings, having been standing in what had so clearly been an offside position, should have resulted in what it would have in the past – and that is offside.
However, referee Jonathan Moss, despite the furious protests of Villa manager Dean Smith, allowed the resulting goal by Bernardo Silva to stand and from that point Pep Guardiola’s side never looked back.
Law changes in recent years, which have resulted in whether a player is “active” becoming a key element in offside decisions, have complicated the game – even if they were introduced with the intention of ruling out fewer goals.
But we do not want the offside law to act as a defender, an additional player – if you like – on the field of play. The game is about goals and we still do not get enough of them.
So, I want a dynamic change to the law within the Premier League and other elite competitions, one whereby offside applies only from the goal-line to the 18-yard line instead of the halfway line – or applies only to the penalty area itself.
I would also scrap the “active” element of the law at that level, to make it clear to attackers that while they would be able to hover on the edge of the box, they could not do the same inside the area.
With offside then a purely black-and-white decision, I would use technology to determine whether a player had strayed too far forward, instead of having to rely on assistant referees.
I accept that this would only work at the very highest level of the game, but we have to recognise that we are already dealing with two different kinds of football at the elite and grass-roots level.
I do not see communication kits at grass-roots level; I do not see goalline technology at grass-roots level. So, I would have a set of laws for grass-roots football and a set of laws at the elite level.
The alternative would be to revert to the traditional offside law, but that would just result in defenders squeezing up more and more towards the halfway line to try and catch out attackers – and inevitably lead to goals drying up.
Football should be trying to be more radical than that and asking questions such as: “What benefit does the offside law give to the game?” The extreme thought is that if you have got a bad law, bin it and start again.