[Tim Pitner]

Hmmm.....  Maybe the Super Bowl ought to be decided by a sudden death series of field goal attempts......

. . . or the flip of a coin. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Hmmm.....  Maybe the Super Bowl ought to be decided by a sudden death series of field goal attempts......

. . . or the flip of a coin. 

Hmmmmm.... that does tend to play a rather large role in sudden death.
Thus I prefer the college method when it comes to American football.

TH

[Bruce Katona]

I am not a big fan of the college fottball playoff system....how about "the golden goal" playing 10 against 10.....pitch opens up with one less player (like in ice hockey) and you get a real winner....deciding on PK's is just terrible, but I am happy with the result....too bad it was Terry, he's a class act...should have been Drogba.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Justin

Typical Gooner reaction to a great game...you have been listening to that manager of yours too much..all that does not come out of the Emirates is second rate...no sorry that would be you guys this season.....
just kidding...
are you really serious?
It was a great game..full of passion, skill, pace, I dont know what else you could want...except for the afforementioned penalties.

[Jon Earl]

Penalties is an awful way to decide a winner but you can't argue with the drama.

They did use a 'golden goal' concept for a while in the European Championship. Germany won Euro 96 by beating the Czech Republic via a golden goal in the final. Not entirely sure why they abadoned the concept.

Maybe we could resolve the Merion argument via penalty kicks. I'd pay good money to see Messrs Morrison, Paul and Cirba face off with Moriaty, Mucci and MacWood. We could erect the goal on  the 1st tee in front of the baying Merion members on  the outside patio.

[Sean_A]

I didn't think the game was brilliant.  A good game , yes, but without a doubt lacking in creativity. I couldn't understand Chelsea's insistance on taking it up the middle the entire 1st half.  Terrible tactics that should have cost them the match before heading into the dressing room.   Most of the skill displayed was by Man U while Chelsea struggled to hit the target.  Still, overall, I would say it was about as much as a draw as there could be.

I hate, absolutely hate deciding a game, any game, by not playing the game.  To me it makes no sense whatsoever.  I would much rather see them play til a goal is scored.  I don't care how tired players get.  Any championship should be decided while playing the game rather than some wierd  practice drill. 

Having said all that, I am genuinely sad that England isn't in the Euro Cup.  It just won't be the same without all the underacheivement talk and the bickering about Crouch and how Lampard, Terry and Gerard can or cannot fit together.

Ciao

[Dan Boerger]

Boy Sean, I agree with you 100%. If it's a game of skill and endurance, you pretty much take those two elements out of the mix the way it ended yesterday. The only other thing this Yank doesn't understand is the weird "Away Goal" rule that's sometimes part of play.

[Kalen Braley]

Listen,

Forget about golden goal, shootouts, 10 on 10, or anything else.  All they need to do is eliminate one rule in OT to get a winner....and that is offsides.

Thats right in OT, offsides is no longer a violation.  Guys can hang out, cherry pick, or otherwise go wherever they want, whenever they want.  This will create a lot of scoring opportunities and insert more strategy into the game.  The box gets too stacked when a team has penetrated deep into the other's territory.  Let a couple of wingers go down the other side of the field and that'll open things up.

[J Sadowsky]

I think they should do it the way they do it in playoff hockey.  Go back to Golden Goal, and let em play till there's one of those.  I understand the whole - but that will make them tired for the next game argument - but at least for the very final match, there's no excuse for it to be decided in the run of play.

[Sean_A]

Boy Sean, I agree with you 100%. If it's a game of skill and endurance, you pretty much take those two elements out of the mix the way it ended yesterday. The only other thing this Yank doesn't understand is the weird "Away Goal" rule that's sometimes part of play.

Dan

The bottom line is clubs pay their players too much money.  As a consequence, their schedules are jam packed and become much worse for the good clubs who carry on a distance in competitions like the FA Cup or European Cup.  So, how do you stop games carrying on?  Penalty shootouts and away goals/combined goals over a home and away.  Its a very old idea that used to be used in the NHL many moons ago.  Thankfully, the NHL dropped that nonsense and decided that what was important is winning games - no matter how many you score or where you score them. 

I turned over as soon as last night's match went to penalties.  I don't have any time for this money hungry way of deciding matches.  There has to be a balance between sport and business.  Unfortunately, the Priemiereship messed up that balance yonks ago.

Ciao

[Tom Huckaby]

Listen,

Forget about golden goal, shootouts, 10 on 10, or anything else.  All they need to do is eliminate one rule in OT to get a winner....and that is offsides.

Thats right in OT, offsides is no longer a violation.  Guys can hang out, cherry pick, or otherwise go wherever they want, whenever they want.  This will create a lot of scoring opportunities and insert more strategy into the game.  The box gets too stacked when a team has penetrated deep into the other's territory.  Let a couple of wingers go down the other side of the field and that'll open things up.

Disagree, Kalen.

The effect of eliminating off-sides will be just that each team packs a certain number of players on each end.  There is absolutely no guarantee of more scoring opportunities.  Think about it.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

Listen,

Forget about golden goal, shootouts, 10 on 10, or anything else.  All they need to do is eliminate one rule in OT to get a winner....and that is offsides.

Thats right in OT, offsides is no longer a violation.  Guys can hang out, cherry pick, or otherwise go wherever they want, whenever they want.  This will create a lot of scoring opportunities and insert more strategy into the game.  The box gets too stacked when a team has penetrated deep into the other's territory.  Let a couple of wingers go down the other side of the field and that'll open things up.

Disagree, Kalen.

The effect of eliminating off-sides will be just that each team packs a certain number of players on each end.  There is absolutely no guarantee of more scoring opportunities.  Think about it.

TH

Tom,

I think it will, because I have thought about it.  It'll open up every area in the field and make these guys essentially play man-on-man defense so as not to forget about someone.

So instead of packing the box either offensively or defensivly, it'll promote more guys to cherry pick...hence less guys hunkered down jamming everything up.

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen:  well let's just say my thinking differs from yours.  I don't see it working out with cherry-picking , which means a few guys on the offensive end while the majority play normally.  I believe that as each team would keep back defensively as many or more as the number of opponents that stay at the offensive end.  It could go man to man, it could go zone.  In the end it wouldn't matter, as the result would be large numbers on each end with none in the middle, meaning bunch ball at each end with long passes from end to end in between periods of bunch ball.  I don't see that resulting in an increase in goals scored, nor do I see it as an improvement in any way.

I do have a bit of a trump card as well... we tried this for 3 games in youth league and it worked out exactly as I say.  I can't see that the pros would handle it any differently.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

But your missing out on two key points here Tom,

1) Those bunches on each end will be smaller than having 1 big bunch on each end going back and forth.  So with fewer people, that is less congestion and more open sight lines and chances to score.

2)  By having the long passes from one end to another, you eliminate all that middle of the field stuff, which means a time savings as ball goes exclusively from end to end meaning more time for actual goal scoring opportunities.

I may not be a full time soccer coach like you, but I did stay at  Holiday Inn Express last night.   

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen:

I am missing nothing.  The game you suggest would be ping pong followed by wrestling matches.  I tend to prefer the beautiful game as it is, which certainly does not have one large bunch running from end to end, unless you are watching the under 7 year old league.  In fact that's the whole point:  WITH off-side it is LESS congested in the attacking end - typically 2-3 attackers against 4 defenders.  WITHOUT offside it would be pretty much 5 on 5 at each end, CONSTANTLY, with nothinging in the middle. Thus you'd have 10 guys killing each other, no passing, all brute force... then keeper or other defender gets ball, boots it the hell to the other end, 10 guys kill each other, no passing, all brute force... lather, rinse, repeat.

If you prefer that, than that is your choice.  I find that silly.  It was pretty stupid when we played it that way.

But hey, don't believe me.... Perhaps this independent website will sway you.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Soccer-Rules:-Offside&id=450157

TH

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen:

I am missing nothing.  The game you suggest would be ping pong followed by wrestling matches.  I tend to prefer the beautiful game as it is, which certainly does not have one large bunch running from end to end, unless you are watching the under 7 year old league.  In fact that's the whole point:  WITH off-side it is LESS congested in the attacking end - typically 2-3 attackers against 4 defenders.  WITHOUT offside it would be pretty much 5 on 5 at each end, CONSTANTLY, with nothinging in the middle. Thus you'd have 10 guys killing each other, no passing, all brute force... then keeper or other defender gets ball, boots it the hell to the other end, 10 guys kill each other, no passing, all brute force... lather, rinse, repeat.

If you prefer that, than that is your choice.  I find that silly.  It was pretty stupid when we played it that way.

But hey, don't believe me.... Perhaps this independent website will sway you.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Soccer-Rules:-Offside&id=450157

TH

Interesting article.

There is no off-sides in basketball and this type of madness does not ensue.  However I will admit sprinting up and down a 80-90 foot-long court, is not the same as a 100 yard field.  I still think it sounds good in theory and would be interested in seeing how this would work at the professional level.  I mean c'mon this has gotta be better than deciding it on penalty kicks which is more akin to rolling the dice in a game of craps.

I would agree that initially one end would be less congested on a break-away attack, but once every one gets back, this isn't the case as the defense will drop 7-8 players to go along with the offenses 6-7.

[Phil McDade]

Kalen:

I'd argue soccer and hockey benefit from having offsides because of the nature of those games -- frequent, occasionally rapid-fire, changes in possession. That's not the case in basketball, where (with fairly rare exceptions, such as scrambles for loose balls, which often do result in uncontested baskets by cherry-picking players) the possession of the ball is very orderly and proscribed -- you get 24 (35...) seconds to do your thing, then you have to give up the ball for another 24 seconds, then you get it back in 24 seconds, and so on.

[Ed Tilley]

Of all of Chelsea's players to miss from the spot, the player I wouldn't want to see miss was JT.  JT is what's right with football, plays the game the right way (and hard), supports the attack, plays through some tough injuries and is a fantastic captain for the blues.  Obviously, if J Cole, A Cole, le sulk (well, he missed) or Drogba missed, that would have made me happy.  To have that happen to JT is simply cruel.

1. 'JT' is a thoroughly unpleasant individual IMO. A serial adulterer, tales of past drink fuelled misdemeanours are numerous. How about parking in a disabled parking space when taking his family to lunch? Baiting American tourists in a bar on 9-11? The whole confrontation leading up to Drogba's sending off was started by Terry and Lampard reacting furiously to Man Utd doing something that Chelsea had done twice before in the game. Then JT blows his nose over Tevez and calls him a '****ing argie ****'.

http://i30.tinypic.com/aylrn6.gif

Class act. I'm not a person who generally wishes ill on anyone but, if anyone had to miss, I'm glad it was Terry.

2. If penalties are such a lottery, how come the Germans have won about 16 shoot outs in a row and we English always lose?

[Andrew Mitchell]

Of all of Chelsea's players to miss from the spot, the player I wouldn't want to see miss was JT.  JT is what's right with football, plays the game the right way (and hard), supports the attack, plays through some tough injuries and is a fantastic captain for the blues.  Obviously, if J Cole, A Cole, le sulk (well, he missed) or Drogba missed, that would have made me happy.  To have that happen to JT is simply cruel.

1. 'JT' is a thoroughly unpleasant individual IMO. A serial adulterer, tales of past drink fuelled misdemeanours are numerous. How about parking in a disabled parking space when taking his family to lunch? Baiting American tourists in a bar on 9-11? The whole confrontation leading up to Drogba's sending off was started by Terry and Lampard reacting furiously to Man Utd doing something that Chelsea had done twice before in the game. Then JT blows his nose over Tevez and calls him a '****ing argie ****'.

http://i30.tinypic.com/aylrn6.gif

Class act. I'm not a person who generally wishes ill on anyone but, if anyone had to miss, I'm glad it was Terry.

2. If penalties are such a lottery, how come the Germans have won about 16 shoot outs in a row and we English always lose?

Ed
I can't disagree with that analysis.  Terry's onfield hounding of officials and off field antics as you detail above render him unfit to play for his country let alone captain them.

The only thing I would disagree with is who I would have chosen to miss that vital penalty - my evening would have been truly complete if it had that arrogant, greedy, adulterer Ashley Cole

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