Managers won’t side with Van Basten over rule change proposal
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has questioned some of Fifa technical director Marco van Basten’s proposed rule changes, which include scrapping offside.
The former AC Milan and Holland striker has suggested eight changes to football he feels could revolutionise the game.
Van Basten’s ideas include getting rid of the offside rule, replacing penalty shoot-outs with eight-second run-ups and introducing orange cards to send players to sin-bins for ten minutes.
He has also proposed that players should be involved in fewer matches each season, that games should go straight to penalties without extra-time, children’s games to be limited to eight-a-side, stopping the clock every time the ball goes out in the last ten minutes and only allowing captains to speak to referees.
Wenger said: “Changing in itself is not a good quality, improving is the real target. Some of the proposals are worth discussing, some I don’t see any big interest.
“The one I don’t find interesting is to suppress offside. Offside is what makes the team good together. it is an intelligent rule as well, it is important to keep that in the game.
“Overall football improves, people say it is too tight and compact but football has always been like that, defence creates a problem for the attack and the attack find a solution.”
But Wenger, pictured, did agree with Van Basten’s proposal about captains and referees, although feels it would be difficult to implement.
He added: “It is a very good proposal, we all dream of that, but it never happens in our sport.”
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic was also doubtful whether getting rid of the offside rule would work.
“For me the major one is offside,” he said. “I can’t imagine what football would look like, but my first reaction is it’s impossible.
“Everybody would love to have a rest by the goalkeeper on the post and just tap in the ball. I really don’t know, maybe to try it and see it on a pitch or organise a game. If I had to say now, no, but I don’t know what it would look like.” Mauricio Pochettino also felt the offside rule was part of what helps make the game. The Tottenham manager said: “I understand that sometimes when you are in some position you need to try to find ideas, but I don’t want a machine without offside. If we play without rules, we have to be careful with that.”
Everton boss Ronald Koeman, who played with Van Basten for the Netherlands, felt the need for more technology to be used in the game before any other rule changes were made.
“I think the most important in my opinion is not to change offside, but to get really important decisions in the game right, and for that we need technology,” he said.
“Then we can discuss about offside and about penalties.”