Pushing The Boundaries Or Fair Play......?

[ElusiveEd]

Found This Intriguing.......

 

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/17667530/southampton-secret-tactic-hasenhuttl-success/

[ALC Fox]

Marginal gains. Don't see a problem with it. The Big Six can blow any team out of the water financially, the rest just have to find others ways to narrow the gap. It's not doping or illegal and, in theory, the Big Six could do it as well if they want. Fair play to them, if it's something they've actually identified as a way of giving them an advantage.

[Corky]

Not really, every team could do it if they wanted to.

[Jaspa]

Nothing new. During either the 2014 World Cup or 2016 Euros they implemented little drinks breaks on 30 minutes and 70 minutes played, to get a break from the heat and take on fluids. You then saw it unofficially carry on in the Premier League and elsewhere, alot of teams having a player go down around that time and they'd all waddle over to the sideline.

 

Strange it's being picked up now tbh

[Jon the Hat]

6 hours ago, Jaspa said:

Nothing new. During either the 2014 World Cup or 2016 Euros they implemented little drinks breaks on 30 minutes and 70 minutes played, to get a break from the heat and take on fluids. You then saw it unofficially carry on in the Premier League and elsewhere, alot of teams having a player go down around that time and they'd all waddle over to the sideline.

 

Strange it's being picked up now tbh

Breaking news from the Athletic!

[Xen]

No different from a half-time orange slice, or the sports drink mix that they have in the bottles. Happens in every endurance sport, and you can almost guarantee we're doing the same thing. We certainly have several drinks bottles as part of the 'med kit' whenever a player goes down and whoever is nearby wanders over and helps themselves. 

 

The only 'story' here is that they're supposedly timing/feigning injury to allow them such a break. But its only happened in 14/24 of their matches (~60%) which, given that 60-70mins is about the time that players are getting tired (as is the point of the article!) and actually getting injuries/cramp, so 60% doesn't seem particularly statistically significant. 

[Jimothy]

The other team are getting chance to rest and refuel though, so its not much of an advantage.

[Vacamion]

 

If a player wants to go over to the side of the pitch during play to take a drink or get tactical advice, fair dos, but faking an injury to let others do so is cheating.

 

As well as being a problem in the specific instances referred to, the feigning of injuries is a problem, generally, in terms of time-wasting and game disruption.

 

How many times do you see them screaming like they've  been shot or waving their hands with their face in the turf as if its a leg break, only for the player to be up and running (and sprinting) straight after.

 

It's coming back into the game that fans and teammates try to put pressure on the opponents to stop the game by kicking it out, too (an example being Amartey stuck in two minds and Kasper shouting at him about it  last week).

 

I would be in favour of refs and opponents redoubling their commitment to avoid stopping the game unless it is an obviously serious injury, and, at the same time changing the rules to allow the physio to run on at any time and attend to a player if they go down suggesting they have an injury while play continues around them.

 

If a player goes down in a place where they can't be treated without disrupting the game, or the injury is serious enough to merit a game stoppage, that player (but not their substitute) should be subject to a 5 minute absence from the pitch when play restarts.

 

It would cut it right out.

 

 

 

 

[Xen]

There are two points being made here.

 

- Whether or not energy gels are cheating. I think its pretty clear that the consensus is there's no issue here as its available to all teams equally and pretty typical across all sports.

- Whether or not stoppages are being 'manufactured' by players to allow certain benefits for their teams. This certainly happens for time-wasting and that needs to be stopped where possible, but I really don't think players are feigning injury just so their teammates can get this energy gel or tactical advice. Rather, it seems that the players are just taking advantage of a stoppage in play around the hour mark, rather than any preconceived plan.

 

The article posted by OP is a complete non-story, but there are tangential issues which do need to be discussed (as @Vacamion mentioned)

Edited 17 February 2022 by Xen

[ealingfox]

How is pretending to be injured to force a stoppage in play any better than diving?

[filbertway]

38 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

How is pretending to be injured to force a stoppage in play any better than diving?

It's not, it's gamesmanship and I really hope that one day we see football look to stamp it out rather than ignoring it and accepting it.

[don_danbury]

has it been that much of a success? they're only 10th and not even comfortably in 10th  

[ElusiveEd]

46 minutes ago, don_danbury said:

has it been that much of a success? they're only 10th and not even comfortably in 10th  

If they were top 5, or even threatening top 5, I've no doubt the tactics would've been questioned and highlighted more than they are.

 

The fact that they aren't still doesn't make it any less of a thought provoking issue.

 

Weren't we all thought of as somehow doing something underhand and dubious when we won the Prem? 

 

Even JV's snuff was brought into question and labelled cheating in some quarters.

[RonnieTodger]

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Edited 17 February 2022 by RonnieTodger