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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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hadareud said:
nah, I think if you have 2 cameras (one on each side) you should definitely be able to display the play 3 dimensionally, so there shouldn't be a need for a camera to be at the same line as the ball. At least I would think so.

I think the hindrance is how long it would take to review/if it could be done automatically by a good piece of software.

What I am really saying is that Ghost should write the software in his own time to prove his worth as a coder.
That sounds like it could work. As you said the problem is how long it takes for a decision could be made. It would be brilliant if it worked straight away. I wonder if they could develop a system where the camera can instantly recognise a player offside and give some sort of indication to the referee of linesman (if they are needed anymore).

If they dont have an instantanious systemn of determining offside, then you've got to balance out the pro's of having a system that can identify offside and the cons of how it would affect the game. I cant see the many problems with how it will affect a match. If there is an offside decision, then anything that happens after the offside doesnt count and a team is given a free kick. If it isnt offside then you allow play to go on.
 
Hell, if Freddie really wants to stay, then keep him...what the hell. As long as he doesn't expect to be a starter and is happy coming on for ten or twenty minutes at a time, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Meanwhile Henry's got a tough life...married to one model, posing with another. Giselle's one of the few supermodels I find extremely attractive, since she seems to weigh more then 50 pounds.
 
hadareud said:
about the offside:

I thought about this one quite a bit. You have 2 cameras on each half of the pitch, so you can use something like the Hawk Eye technology to determine if somebody is offside quite easily.

If it can't be done instantaneously, than the referee let's play go on if in doubt and the offside decision is to follow once the situation is over.

If it is possible instantaneously, and I'm sure it is or will be soonish, you just have the linesmen and referees wearing a buzzing device to tell them if the play was offside.

The only people who can do it instantaneously are the linesman.

In tennis you have to appeal to see if the ball is out or not and your limited to how many times you can appeal, it hasn't replaced the linesman/boys outright and i doubt it ever will.

The big trap is to not stop and start the game too much by reviewing every possible close offside, there must be at least 10 of these type of decisions being made per match, the game also can't afford Rugby (or Cricket) style pauses with a big placard saying Offside or Onside (which you've already mentioned)

What also can't happen is if the player is offside, and then plays on and scores, it's frustrating enough when the player is clearly offside, but the linesman waits until he is active before he blows the whistle, just imagine prolonging that until the camera technology kicks in.

I think we are far from the days where it's like Pro Evo if at all, because even the most acute angle from the Camera's can be the difference between onside or offside.
 
Want to hear stories of players on their holidays, read this:

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8751_2286366,00.html

Its stories from people have who seen football players on holiday. There's quite a lot of them, so im just going to post one of my favourite's

Taunting Kieron And Titus In Malis
I have two stories relating to Newcastle players in Malia, June/July 2005.

Number one...Kieron Dyer. I saw Mr Dyer earlier that evening going around bars with his posse of 'brick s**thouse' built mates acting as you would expect...now I am a Sunderland supporter, so the fact that such a mediocre player from our rivals was walking about bars in Malia (classy!) like a prick was highly ammusing on its own.

However, later that night, I bumped into Kieron again...he was handing out roses to the drunken females throwing themselves on him (oh to be a footballer). My mates decided that,

even though he was a Mag, he is still (somehow) was an England international and went to say hello, shake hands etc...I didn't share their sentiment, so when my 'turn' to sake this living god's hand came about, I gave him the old 'pull your hand away saying "whaaaaayyy"' treatment. His response... throwing those wonderful roses at me in disgust... nice one Keiron!

Number two...Titus Bramble.

Also, while in Malia my mates and I got talking to some lads from Blackburn. Very funny lads... anyway, another night, we were bar crawling with them around Malia when we saw Titus Bramble. Well, being the informed football critics we are we had to go and talk to the most useless defender ever to grace the Premiership! But the Blackburn lads decided to give Titus an ego boost, and proceeded to spout off absolute rubbish to him about how great he was, how he should play for England etc etc...

Titus loved the attention and actually offered to buy us all a drink! We declined and moved onto another bar, but just before leaving the Blackburn lads decided to put right what they had done wrong, and so annouced to Titus that they had been lying all along and that he was in fact a 'pile of s**te'... you should have seen his face... gutted!

I enjoyed that holiday...
 
Steroyd said:
The only people who can do it instantaneously are the linesman.

In tennis you have to appeal to see if the ball is out or not and your limited to how many times you can appeal, it hasn't replaced the linesman/boys outright and i doubt it ever will.

The big trap is to not stop and start the game too much by reviewing every possible close offside, there must be at least 10 of these type of decisions being made per match, the game also can't afford Rugby (or Cricket) style pauses with a big placard saying Offside or Onside (which you've already mentioned)

What also can't happen is if the player is offside, and then plays on and scores, it's frustrating enough when the player is clearly offside, but the linesman waits until he is active before he blows the whistle, just imagine prolonging that until the camera technology kicks in.

I think we are far from the days where it's like Pro Evo if at all, because even the most acute angle from the Camera's can be the difference between onside or offside.
that's what I meant though, there must be a way to have an instantaneous decision from a piece of software that then buzzes the linesman so he can raise his flag.

I agree that we shouldn't have too many breaks - but if the offside decision isn't instantaneous and takes a few seconds it wouldn't be too bad either I would think.

I think we would get used to it very quickly, especially if it's not happening too often.
 
the reason technology isnt adopted for us in the professional game is because its considered a pure sport where the game being played in a stadium is essentially the same game being played in the parking lot by a bunch of kids.

"IT S A GOAL!! YOU CAN WHERE THE BALL MADE A MARK ON THE WALL!"

"NO ITS NOT! THATS WHERE THE POST WOULD BE, IT WOULD HAVE BOUNCED OUT!"

Its football, love it.
 
there's always going to be controversial decisions, and I would agree that it's a part of the game that is enjoyable to a certain degree.

But with the game becoming so professional I would like them to at least tackle the most glaring issues.

Offsides are a big part of the problem - most referees and linesmen don't even understand the rules themselves and the game is played at such a high pace that it's nearly impossible to not get at least a few offsides wrong. I don't think I can remember watching a game in recent memory where the refs got every single offside decision right. And I watched a lot of games.
 
Sometimes you cant blame the linesman for getting some decisions wrong. The pace of the game makes it difficult to make the right calls.

There's something wierd about offside. You always hear commentators saying that the striker should be given the benefit of the doubt, but i presume they're talking out of their ass because the linesman never give the striker the benefit of the doubt.
 
hadareud said:
that's what I meant though, there must be a way to have an instantaneous decision from a piece of software that then buzzes the linesman so he can raise his flag.

I agree that we shouldn't have too many breaks - but if the offside decision isn't instantaneous and takes a few seconds it wouldn't be too bad either I would think.

I think we would get used to it very quickly, especially if it's not happening too often.

The way the ref waits till the player touches the ball from an offside position is bad enough. :/

I don't think the offside issue can be tackled completely, for what your talking about it would require the Camera to stick in line with the last man in defense, which is what a Linesman can do and a camera can't do, and you've also got things at what angle is the camera looking at, where the camera needs to be (more or less on the line looking across the field in the Linesman's way).

It would be interesting to see how the camera and tech would be able to deal situation like this.

offside0ox.jpg


OH SHIT I nearly got imageshacked. :O

*phew*

Despite our discussion at the end of it all it may not even matter because Offside needs to be more simplified, because even if the Camera technology works like in computer games, you've still got that "active" "in-active" player bull crap, that the computer just wouldn't understand.
 
Steroyd said:
The way the ref waits till the player touches the ball from an offside position is bad enough. :/

I don't think the offside issue can be tackled completely, for what your talking about it would require the Camera to stick in line with the last man in defense, which is what a Linesman can do and a camera can't do, and you've also got things at what angle is the camera looking at, where the camera needs to be (more or less on the line looking across the field in the Linesman's way).

It would be interesting to see how the camera and tech would be able to deal situation like this.

offside0ox.jpg


OH SHIT I nearly got imageshacked. :O

*phew*


Despite our discussion at the end of it all it may not even matter because Offside needs to be more simplified, because even if the Camera technology works like in computer games, you've still got that "active" "in-active" player bull crap, that the computer just wouldn't understand.
:lol
------
if you have 2 cameras you should be able to have a "3 dimensional" view of the pitch though, meaning you can exactly determine when the ball was played and where the attacking player was at the time. That technology, or a form of it, is already used in TV analysis. All that's needed is adjusting, updating, improving etc. You will need high quality cameras and some serious computing power I would think, but I'm sure it can be done.

For the passive and inactive offside rules - that's probably going to be very difficult to do, technologically. Or maybe not so much technologically, but that the rules are so soft and in the eye of the beholder that it's impossible to program. For that to happen FIFA would have to come out with a clear set of rules. Maybe something that referees will understand too.

edit:
Arsenal are apparently closing in on Sagna for 6.75 million.
 
in the most exciting bit of Arsenal news today, it seems like the mysterious north bank horse has been found.

Here's the background story from Arseblogger:

Many years ago when the old North Bank was being constructed there was this horse and the horse was rather a bit fond of his drink. He would come to work at the site to pull stuff around but often he’d nip off for a swift pint and a chaser in the middle of the day. One evening when everyone had knocked off he realised he’d left his nose bag in work so he stumbled out of the Bank of Friendship, which was known as The Otter’s Quim back then, and went back to get it. By the time he got there though the fresh air had made his drunken head even more drunken and he fell into the foundations. The next morning some Irish lads who had been hired for the job laid down the tarmac and nobody ever saw old Norman the Horse again. Until yesterday.
 
Keep that gold frog of death away from me.
redd.gif


Oh I see.

Wouldn't the way you just described it mean that the whole match would have to be on the fly in a 3D simulation on a computer somewhere for a solid 90+ minutes?

We're talking CGI farms or technology of the like to keep it instantaneous, with extra officials watching the footage (like we've got enough as it is), I think that would be too costly to implement it in a match not even counting up keep and making it standard across the board.

So far all video tech has been used to review something or to double check, non of it has been used to replace officials decisions, I'm still skeptical if that will ever happen.

Then again all that complex technology is still simpler than describing what the offside rule is.
 
Steroyd said:
Oh I see.

Wouldn't the way you just described it mean that the whole match would have to be on the fly in a 3D simulation on a computer somewhere for a solid 90+ minutes?
Basically yes. Something similar is also already done in some ways to track player movements btw. By far not as elaborate, but you get the point.
We're talking CGI farms or technology of the like to keep it instantaneous, with extra officials watching the footage (like we've got enough as it is), I think that would be too costly to implement it in a match not even counting up keep and making it standard across the board.So far all video tech has been used to review something or to double check, non of it has been used to replace officials decisions, I'm still skeptical if that will ever happen.

Then again all that complex technology is still simpler than describing what the offside rule is.
I have no idea how much processing power is required, but I wouldn't think it should be that bad. You will definitely need some decent hardware to do it, but the most important part is the software.

You will definitely need one person per game to review it. Then again, the 4th referee doesn't have a lot to do apart form holding up a board a few times a game - so he would finally have a job.

Problem is, I can fantasize all I want, it is never going to happen.

FIFA will never allow for technology like that. Or make rules that can be explained, as you say.
 
I have no idea how much processing power is required, but I wouldn't think it should be that bad. You will definitely need some decent hardware to do it, but the most important part is the software.

I dunno tracking 22 players (plus referee and linesman if they're not obsolete) on the pitch while at the same time distinguishing them separately by colour (how else are you going to monitor offside?), in a 3D cyberspace must take significant amount of hardware to pull off, it's probably damn site expensive to boot, then you try and standardize it across every FA, Uefa match and World Cup and i can imagine the FA puking at the thought of the bill.

I'm just skeptical that we'll come up with technology that will replace the officials decisions, so far in Tennis, Rugby, Cricket (god help me i was watching some yesterday :( ), the cam tech was used in conjunction with the referee decisions.

Oh Hooray.

/enthusiastic golf clap.

Charlton Athletic have underlined they will not let Darren Bent leave for a penny less than £17million, as Tottenham and Liverpool reportedly circle the striker.

West Ham are the only club to have met Bent's asking price, but The Hammers were shocked when the England international turned down a reported £75,000-per-week deal to move to Upton Park.

Bent's decision to snub his former boss Alan Curbishley has opened the door to both Tottenham and Liverpool to move for the Addicks star, but the North London club have reportedly failed with an offer that falls short of the club's valuation.

Now Charlton chief executive Peter Varney has told all interested parties that Bent will not be leaving The Valley on the cheap.

"We have a valuation of Darren and we will not sell for less than that," Varney told the South London Press.

"There have been other bids and they don't meet our valuation. West Ham matched our valuation and that was why they were given permission last week to speak to Darren.

"No other club has managed that and as things stand Darren will be staying with Charlton. He is our player and under contract to us."

Maybe because the bugger wants to further his international career and play in Europe?

That being said Darren Bent should demand that they lower his price so Tottenham can get him.
 
Steroyd said:
I dunno tracking 22 players (plus referee and linesman if they're not obsolete) on the pitch while at the same time distinguishing them separately by colour (how else are you going to monitor offside?), in a 3D cyberspace must take significant amount of hardware to pull off, it's probably damn site expensive to boot, then you try and standardize it across every FA, Uefa match and World Cup and i can imagine the FA puking at the thought of the bill.
i really really doubt it's an issue about technology. tracking players across a 3D realm would be no different, and possibly MUCH less intensive than rendering, say, a modern 3D computer game (especially online variants with 20+ players per server). most people just want to keep the 'human element' in the game, as it is very much a part of it.
 
Mourinho is in good form already it seems
Mourinho Jibes At Liverpool's History
Jose Mourinho has reopened the row with with Liverpool about the subject of 'history' as he reminds the Merseysiders of how many trophies his side have won compared to themselves in recent years.

While conceding that Liverpool have a fine European tradition he points out that they are suffering from a 17-year Championship drought.

The issue relates to a row that preceeded Liverpool's Champions League semi-final victory over Chelsea, which they achieved for the second time in three seasons, but Mourinho believes it is now his side that are making history.

He said: "Liverpool fans can continue to chant 'no history' at us but we continue to make it. They have their history, we have our history.

"They are a club with a history in Europe that Chelsea doesn't have, and their history is magnificent, but I think for 17 years they don't win one championship and we won two in the last three years.

"The only reason they have reached two Champions League finals in recent times was that they were parking the bus."

"Of the 12 pieces of silverware in English football in the last three years, Chelsea won six, Liverpool two, Manchester United two and Arsenal two, so we won the same number of pieces of silverware that the other three clubs won all together. So I think we are going in the right direction."
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=332662
 
Liverpool are rumoured to buy Torres.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2429746,00.html

Fernando Torres could be the player to end Liverpool's summer of inactivity after Atletico Madrid finally decided to sell.

The Spanish striker will cost around £25m because of a clause in his contract but The Liverpool Echo believes that price will not put off Rafa Benitez.

Torres has previously been a target for Manchester United and Chelsea, but he is thought to favour a move to Liverpool - during a recent match his captain's armband allegedly slipped to reveal the words 'You'll never walk alone' printed on the reverse.

Atletico have finally agreed to sell Torres after failing to reach the UEFA Cup following a disappointing season in which their star striker still managed to score 14 goals.

One internet report suggests that Liverpool have despatched officials to Madrid in order to open talks with Atletico Madrid, who might be tempted by an offer of former player Luis Garcia in part exchange.
 
psycho_snake said:
But when you're playing in the park a bad decision doesnt cost you a CL place or avoiding relegation.

seriously, the thought of 100% accurate technology enforcing the rules isn't so great.

and I wasn't expressing an opinion before, that's one of the official reasons why FIFA exists, to keep football a pure sport. Or at least it was.

and I'm not even on about the local parks so much, there are amateur leagues, 5 a sides, 7 a sides, sunday league, lower divisions, they all play exactly the same game and thats how it should be.

There is no need to introduce all this weird gadgetry at the top end of the scale eliminating error and adding this and that.
 
I half agree with you, but football has changed so much over the years.

So much more pace over 90 minutes, much more pressure due to the amount of money being invested and rules introduced by FIFA that even experts argue about on a case to case basis. It makes decisions really a lot more difficult for referees, and they are crumbling under the pressure. Last years refereeing was shocking at times.

I agree that we should keep a human element in the game - but for the most important decisions we at least need a backup plan.


*still wondering about that second title that Arsenal won in the last 3 years according to Mourinho*
 
kaizoku said:
seriously, the thought of 100% accurate technology enforcing the rules isn't so great.

and I wasn't expressing an opinion before, that's one of the official reasons why FIFA exists, to keep football a pure sport. Or at least it was.

and I'm not even on about the local parks so much, there are amateur leagues, 5 a sides, 7 a sides, sunday league, lower divisions, they all play exactly the same game and thats how it should be.

There is no need to introduce all this weird gadgetry at the top end of the scale eliminating error and adding this and that.
I know thats part of the reason that its not been introdiuced yet, but there is just so much at stake in football now. One wrong decisions can make a team miss out on that point they need to survive in the top flight. Try telling a team who just got relegated and lose millions of pounds that it happened because we should keep football a pure sport.
 
I think that keeping some human factor in the game is good, which is why things like loosely defined extra time should always be in place. However, offside calls and questions about what's over the line goalwise can be somewhat easily sorted out with modern technology, and I don't see any reason to not do help the refs make better decisions.
 
cool, I shall watch this when I get home.

I love compilations like this. There were all these lists last year with the worldcup too, great stuff.
 
Bellamy has made shearer drink.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2428139,00.html

Alan Shearer has urged Newcastle not to bring their former striker Craig Bellamy back to St James' Park.

Wales international Bellamy has been tipped to leave Liverpool and has been linked with a return to Newcastle, where he played alongside Shearer.

However, he left the club after a bust-up with then Magpies boss Graeme Souness in 2005.

Shearer, the former Newcastle and England striker, was stunned to discover new manager Sam Allardyce had been linked with Bellamy.

He said: "Has no-one learnt their lesson about signing Craig Bellamy?

"If only (Liverpool boss) Rafa Benitez had rung me I would have told him exactly what he was like. I hope there isn't anything in (the Newcastle reports).

"I was having a few days away in France with (former Newcastle team-mates) Gary Speed and Steve Harper and the wives and I picked up the newspaper. I was having a fantastic day.

"But when I read Bellamy for Newcastle I thought I would definitely have to have another drink. I had several."
 
I looked through the list of the 101 best goals and Im shocked to see that Schole's goal is 51. That should definately be higher on the list.
 
Cornballer said:
They're listed in order by the date, not by quality. ;)
well that makes it ok for scholes goal not to be higher on that list. I've only looked at the list, but I'll watch it later.
 
This may not seem like it has anything to do with football, but don't worry, it has a football slant, I'm not just telling you guys a random story.

The weather's been really weird here, sunny one minute, heaviest rain I've seen in years the next. So when I was in the pharmacy waiting for my prescription, it was no surprise to see people dashing in drenched in just their summery clothes.

Then this woman comes running in. Early 20s, pretty, great figure, and wearing this summery top that's showing a lot of tit. She's clearly not wearing a bra, as the material is clinging to her and her nipples are obvious, the top could have been painted on.

Now I'm already enjoying the show, especially as there's water dripping down her skin, but it gets better. She starts brushing the water off her tits, making them jiggle, and tries to adjust her top which I guess has fallen down a bit through a combination of running in and lack of brassiere. One of her hands slips on the wet material whilst pulling it up, the top springs back and her tit falls out.

Being the gentleman I am, I didn't even pretend I wasn't looking, she had great tits. Well, great tit, I assume the other one's pretty much the same.

She was soooo embarrassed. Then, just to compound her misery, having drawn the undivided attention of everyone there, she had to ask the woman behind the counter for thrush cream and bought a pack of condoms! Pick one!

Though when she'd gone and they were still taking ages getting me my stuff, I glanced at the condoms and saw the packet she'd picked up were extra large. Put me in my place.

Oh and, she probably supported Swindon Town.
 
Mama Smurf said:
This may not seem like it has anything to do with football, but don't worry, it has a football slant, I'm not just telling you guys a random story.

The weather's been really weird here, sunny one minute, heaviest rain I've seen in years the next. So when I was in the pharmacy waiting for my prescription, it was no surprise to see people dashing in drenched in just their summery clothes.

Then this woman comes running in. Early 20s, pretty, great figure, and wearing this summery top that's showing a lot of tit. She's clearly not wearing a bra, as the material is clinging to her and her nipples are obvious, the top could have been painted on.

Now I'm already enjoying the show, especially as there's water dripping down her skin, but it gets better. She starts brushing the water off her tits, making them jiggle, and tries to adjust her top which I guess has fallen down a bit through a combination of running in and lack of brassiere. One of her hands slips on the wet material whilst pulling it up, the top springs back and her tit falls out.

Being the gentleman I am, I didn't even pretend I wasn't looking, she had great tits. Well, great tit, I assume the other one's pretty much the same.

She was soooo embarrassed. Then, just to compound her misery, having drawn the undivided attention of everyone there, she had to ask the woman behind the counter for thrush cream and bought a pack of condoms! Pick one!

Though when she'd gone and they were still taking ages getting me my stuff, I glanced at the condoms and saw the packet she'd picked up were extra large. Put me in my place.

Oh and, she probably supported Swindon Town.

:lol :lol

story of the day.

Where's the pictures. SERIOUSLY.
 
Talk about being in the right place at the right time mama.

and like had said, WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PICTURES!??
 
hadareud said:
In other news Freddie wants to stay, will he be allowed to do so?
Sounds a bit desperate, doesn't he? I'm glad he wants to stay and fight, but I doubt on some level that he's still capable of challenging for a spot. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like he's past it. Sucks, because he's just the sort of player Arsenal need these days.
 
I wish, but even if I had a camera phone she covered it with her hand so quickly before tucking it back away I'd never have gotten a shot off. Not quicker than my eyes though.

I'm sure I'll be shooting off tonight though.

sorry
 
Ive got a story a bit like that. I was a water theme park with a couple of friends. This theme park has this huge slide. One of my friends went down it and when she got to the bottom the top half of her bikini went off. She actually didnt notice for a few seconds, but after she realised us staring at her in a rather strange way, she realised just what had happened. She called us perverts, but what the hell do you expect when you're topless infront of a group of guys.

If only I had a waterproof camera with me...
 
psycho_snake said:
Ive got a story a bit like that. I was a water theme park with a couple of friends. This theme park has this huge slide. Its really good, but the only problem is that it gives you a massive wedgie; your swmming shorts go up to your cage. Anyway one of my friends went down it and when she got to the bottom the top half of her bikini went off. She actually didnt notice for a few seconds, but after she realised us staring at her in a rather strange way, she realised just what had happened. She called us perverts, but what the hell do you expect when you're topless infront of a group of guys.

If only I had a waterproof camera with me...

Yeah, I've seen that happen.

To my sister.

Cornballer said:
Any chance she was an exhibitionist that wanted an audience?

I hope so, maybe she'll do it again. I have GP friend...well, friend of a friend...who had an exhibitionist patient. Whenever he came in to see her he'd always supposedly have some problem down below and would have to drop his pants to show her :lol I dunno what happened to him, maybe god got ironic and killed him off with an STD for all the times she had to check for lumps.

hadareud said:
please, no pictures. SERIOUSLY

Really? Shame, I like to trade.
 
This rumour about Liverpool wanting Torres is becoming stronger and stronger, even talk of us giving them Luis Garcia aswell (although I hope not).

He'd be a great addition to the team, Torres.

And as for the 11 million signing... we still don't know who it is but cross these off the list: Florent Malouda, Gabriel Milito, Darrent Bent.

I'm guessing it's Simao. Simao would be nice, we need a good winger.
 
Torres is a good player, but I think he's hugely overrated. You might as well buy forlan if you're interested in torres, forlan scored more goal than him. Even Kanoute scored more goals that torres.
 
psycho_snake said:
Torres is a good player, but I think he's hugely overrated. You might as well buy forlan if you're interested in torres, forlan scored more goal than him. Even Kanoute scored more goals that torres.

The thing is though, Torres is young. Obviously he wouldn't settle that well IMO, but given time, I think he'd be great player down the line. He has so much potential, and I think whatever team does snag him, Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal, are very fortunate.
 
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