Ahead of every weekend this season I will give you my three thoughts on what’s going on in the Premier League and the soccer world at large. These might not always be the biggest stories, but rather my personal observations as the games approach each Saturday.
Are these the dog days of the soccer season? Or is there some other reason why it seems each week something more ridiculous happens than the previous week? Not that I am against moving forward or progress, in fact I am more than open to concepts that improve the product on the field, but really Marco van Basten?
Give your head a shake, van Basten
Listen, I loved van Basten the footballer—his goal for the Netherlands against the Soviet Union in the Euro ’88 final is still one of my all-time favourites. However, his suggestion that FIFA should consider “breakaway-style penalties” is utterly ludicrous. But it’s not quite as ludicrous as his notion of doing away with the offside rule—although, his idea of an orange card, which is ostensibly the “sin-bin” idea, is perhaps more palatable.
Van Basten is FIFA’s technical director, and I suppose he needs to consider such radical steps in order to justify his position. Let’s be honest: any successful company needs to always be ahead of the curve, and needs to consider every possibility, but let’s hope the aforementioned ideas are merely the result of focus groups and committees, and won’t actually ever come to reality.
The penalty proposal could come to fruition at the expanded 2026 World Cup, as a way to determine definitive results in the ill-considered three-team group phase. Perhaps a better idea would be not to have a three-team group phase? As for doing away with offsides, surely FIFA is aware of why the rule was implemented to begin with? To prevent sides from just hoofing the ball the length of the field, where goal-hungry strikers would be congregating. Isn’t long-ball football frowned upon?
Really, soccer is the easiest of sports, it doesn’t need reinventing, and all in all it works pretty well. Systems and tactics evolve, and sadly at the moment international soccer is being dominated by defensive tactics. These systems will be neutralized in time, so let’s leave it to the coaches and players to improve the game, not the administrators.
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Managers say stupid things sometimes
The battle between managers and media is one that will never fade away. There will always be suspicion between the two; managers will assume the media will always take the route of the best headline rather than the truth, whereas the media will try and read into what the manager might be saying, rather than actually what he is saying.
As a member of the media, I find myself doing this; whenever a manager says or does something stupid, we start complimenting his strategic nous, suggesting he is only doing or saying such things to deflect the attention away from his team. Sir Alex Ferguson was the master at this, and now we see Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and others doing similar things, be it a surly accusation, or a criticism of the referee, or kicking a water bottle.
Perhaps we are giving these managers too much credit? Perhaps they are just saying stupid things, or reacting impulsively with a stupid kick of a water bottle on the sidelines. I think it’s time we consider managers as what they actually are: imperfect human beings like the rest of us, who sometimes say dumb things.
Shut up and play, Payet
Can we all agree there is no loyalty in soccer? No longer should we feign disgust and anger when a player decides that he wants to break a contract before it ends. The player is just as likely to be sold by the club regardless of his contractual status—this is simply the way the game works.
However, we do have a right to feel aggrieved when a player not only demands a move, but then refuses to play. Sadly, Dimitri Payet has shown himself as one of the game’s bottom feeders, a child who lacks the maturity to objectively assess his situation.
Reportedly his family wanted to leave England and return to France. I’m quite sure he had the same family when he signed the new long-term contract at West Ham United last summer, a deal that made him the highest paid player in the club’s history. The situation is untenable now, Payet will get his move, and player power will chalk up another success. Such is modern football.
Sportsnet’s Soccer Central podcast (featuring James Sharman, Thomas Dobby, Brendan Dunlop and John Molinaro) takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.
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