06 Mar 2023 19:34:39
Hi all, I just made a comment on another thread and it made me think it'd be interesting to see what the concensus is. As we all know the game is unfortunately blighted with timewasting, diving, surrounding officials etc and I'm wondering if there would be appetite for Villa to take a lead on changing this.
Hypothetically speaking (obviously) would you be in favour of Villa instructing all players to adhere to a strict code of conduct which included never diving, never abusing/arguing with officials and never timewasting I.e throwing the ball away, keeper taking an age to release the ball etc?
Obviously this would put us at a slight tactical disadvantage (at least until others followed) but would you be willing to take that risk in exchange for Villa taking a leading role of cleaning up the sport? Or are you in the camp of leaving it to governing bodies to sort out and we just keep doing the same of everyone else?
06 Mar 2023 21:54:21
Nothing will change until there is consequences for it. I’m a bit embarrassed by Martinez time wasting and what’s become the usual yellow card during the second half, you have to question his intelligence that he thinks he will escape but we will just end up having him suspended for an important game in the near future and for what? Refs are adding on time for all his time wasting anyways so it’s just idiotic to keep doing it
06 Mar 2023 22:26:00
We've been the fair team in the past and it has cost us. Games and league positions can be decided on fine margins and the teams at the top are partially there because they use any slight advantage they can get.
Refs never add the full amount of time on for time wasting so I get Emi doing it to an extent but he does overdo it and make it way too obvious. He's smart enough not to do it if it'll be the one that leads to a suspension. I also think because of his past antics refs are all too eager to let the opposite fans ref the game for them. Quite a few times he's been carded despite taking less time than the opponents goalkeeper just because the fans make such a noise.
06 Mar 2023 22:35:46
Hi Whackattack, so just for the record, would you prefer Villa to make a change and instruct players to 'behave' at the risk of losing a slight competitive advantage or keep trying to get away with it like everyone else? It's a hypothetical question.just interest to see what the concensus would be.
06 Mar 2023 23:34:37
This is proving trickier than I thought it would be haha.
So Rknewell, should I take it that you would prefer Villa to keep up the antics like everyone else and not take the moral highground?
Not criticising either way, just interested which of the two perspectives people would lean towards if given a binary choice.
07 Mar 2023 09:05:47
Personally DBS I would rather we suffer a little bit and we cut out all the things you suggest but unfortunately even if we took the lead I can’t see it happening because at the end of the day as rk points out league positions are decided on fine margins and losing a couple of places in the league can cost a club millions so financially clubs won’t do it. One of the ways you could look to make a difference is take a leaf out of Rugby’s book for example any questioning of a referees decision costs 10 yards, when ball goes out of play or when a player is injured stop the clock and play to the full 90 minutes, retrospective punishments for diving automatic 3 match ban. It won’t change things overnight but it would be a start. In addition with regards diving it would also help if refs didn’t take the view that if a player manages to stay on his feet then he hasn’t been fouled! If players thought that irrespective of whether or not they went down a foul would be given they might and I only say might be less inclined to dive.
07 Mar 2023 11:21:19
I think it is more likely to stop if Refs started red-carding those responsible with the full backing of the FA. Screaming in the Refs face or intimidating them is violent conduct in my book and should carry a straight Red. Anyone joining in with the antics should be yellow carded and thus be at risk of dismissal for the next bookable offense. In terms of diving etc, the punishment should be whatever punishment they were trying to get meted out to their opponent. So, for example, when Fernandes goes down holding his face when only being pushed in the chest (like he did on Sunday), then he is clearly trying to get someone red-carded and thus that should be his punishment for simulation. I don't think self-policing will help as there will always be the likes of Zaha and Fernandes who won't toe the line.
07 Mar 2023 11:21:31
I think we all want progress but that's a job for the authorities that needs to be enforced without big club bias.
When teams really started to use these tactics more regularly in the 2000s we stuck to our principals.
It did nothing to convince others that they shouldn't do it and if anything I think it cost us top 4 at least once. I think back to that time Cuellar went for a shot when we were 2-1 up with 3 minutes left and we ended up losing 3-2.
With more teams doing it more often and being better at it then it could easily be worse than 1 or 2 places. We're at a point this season where we would almost definitely be fine regardless but that level of organic change takes longer and could easily lead to relegation battles if attempted for a full season.
The saying "Nice guys finish last" didn't come from nowhere. As much as we'd love to live in a fair world, someone will always take advantage.