The Wall. Is It Outdated?

[uptheos]

Stick the tallest guys on the line!

[MrRed]

Jusat bend it like Beckham!!

[tw25rw]

If the team taking the free kick want the 10 yards and want the ref to stride it out, they have to wait until the ref blows. and thus wait till the wall is ready

I don't know if they have a choice. Can honestly say I've never noticed them take a quick free kick before the defence was ready without the ref blowing.

[smokie36]

Jusat bend it like Beckham!!

[carmine]

If the team taking the free kick want the 10 yards and want the ref to stride it out, they have to wait until the ref blows. and thus wait till the wall is ready

I don't know if they have a choice. Can honestly say I've never noticed them take a quick free kick before the defence was ready without the ref blowing.

Thierry Henry did didn't he?

[mrbojangles]

If the team taking the free kick want the 10 yards and want the ref to stride it out, they have to wait until the ref blows. and thus wait till the wall is ready

I don't know if they have a choice. Can honestly say I've never noticed them take a quick free kick before the defence was ready without the ref blowing.

Thierry Henry did didn't he?

James Milners goal against Arsenal in Jan, was a quickly taken free kick. Gareth Barry saw that Arsenal were being slow in sorting themselves out, so took it. From this position, in the majority of instances a team would have waited for the free kick taker to sort himself out and the wall to be positioned but you don't have to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzWQRY7_s24

[Chicog]

If the team taking the free kick want the 10 yards and want the ref to stride it out, they have to wait until the ref blows. and thus wait till the wall is ready

I don't know if they have a choice. Can honestly say I've never noticed them take a quick free kick before the defence was ready without the ref blowing.

Thierry Henry did didn't he?

He asked the ref. You're allowed to.

[carmine]

If the team taking the free kick want the 10 yards and want the ref to stride it out, they have to wait until the ref blows. and thus wait till the wall is ready

I don't know if they have a choice. Can honestly say I've never noticed them take a quick free kick before the defence was ready without the ref blowing.

Thierry Henry did didn't he?

He asked the ref. You're allowed to.

i was asking a question. the clue to this was the question mark

[Chicog]

Thierry Henry did didn't he?

He asked the ref. You're allowed to.

i was asking a question. the clue to this was the question mark

I was elucidating.

[Sparkles]

On many occasions you can see ,on replay,that the keeper is a minute fraction of a second late in picking up the flight of the ball,and that's all it takes, as his view is obstructed by the so called "wall." some quite tame kicks have found the back of the net over the years.Of course a defender on each post would stop this but play all opponents onside and not many sides are prepared to gamble on that.When player ie the likes of Nasri jump or turn its no longer a "wall" Its doesn't take a huge amount of courage to stand there with your hands over your privates and let it hit you.

[alfieconn]

On many occasions you can see ,on replay,that the keeper is a minute fraction of a second late in picking up the flight of the ball,and that's all it takes, as his view is obstructed by the so called "wall." some quite tame kicks have found the back of the net over the years.Of course a defender on each post would stop this but play all opponents onside and not many sides are prepared to gamble on that.When player ie the likes of Nasri jump or turn its no longer a "wall" Its doesn't take a huge amount of courage to stand there with your hands over your privates and let it hit you.

I think your find it's still a wall Sparks but a broken one

[mrbojangles]

On many occasions you can see ,on replay,that the keeper is a minute fraction of a second late in picking up the flight of the ball,and that's all it takes, as his view is obstructed by the so called "wall." some quite tame kicks have found the back of the net over the years.Of course a defender on each post would stop this but play all opponents onside and not many sides are prepared to gamble on that.When player ie the likes of Nasri jump or turn its no longer a "wall" Its doesn't take a huge amount of courage to stand there with your hands over your privates and let it hit you.

I think your find it's still a wall Sparks but a broken one

When Nasri's in it, it's more like a picket fence than a wall alfie

[oldgit]

On many occasions you can see ,on replay,that the keeper is a minute fraction of a second late in picking up the flight of the ball,and that's all it takes, as his view is obstructed by the so called "wall." some quite tame kicks have found the back of the net over the years.Of course a defender on each post would stop this but play all opponents onside and not many sides are prepared to gamble on that.When player ie the likes of Nasri jump or turn its no longer a "wall" Its doesn't take a huge amount of courage to stand there with your hands over your privates and let it hit you.

You could have a situation where,when the player is starting his run up to take the kick,you have two players peeling off at either end of the wall and scampering back to guard the posts.

[oldgit]

When a free kick is given and a wall is formed,the the player obviously eyes up the most vulnerable part of the other teams defensive strategy. How often does he shoot straight at the keeper's half of the goal? Very rarely. How often does he try to bend the ball around the 'blind side' of the wall? Very rarely. How often does he try to shoot under the wall when they jump? I remember Ronaldinho doing it against us in the Champions League but don't recollect it happening afterwards. How often does he try to lift the ball over the 10 yard wall? All the time,because it's the most likely route to success.and,therefore,the most vulnerable.

I don't know,Alfredo,but those stats you dug out stating that 8 out of every 100 direct free kicks are successful seem a bit on the low side to me.

[rixalex]

On many occasions you can see ,on replay,that the keeper is a minute fraction of a second late in picking up the flight of the ball,and that's all it takes, as his view is obstructed by the so called "wall." some quite tame kicks have found the back of the net over the years.Of course a defender on each post would stop this but play all opponents onside and not many sides are prepared to gamble on that.When player ie the likes of Nasri jump or turn its no longer a "wall" Its doesn't take a huge amount of courage to stand there with your hands over your privates and let it hit you.

You could have a situation where,when the player is starting his run up to take the kick,you have two players peeling off at either end of the wall and scampering back to guard the posts.

Scampering... what a great word that is... you've given me pangs for a nice big plate of scampi and chips.

[NoshowJones]

The conversation rate over the last 4 years is just under 8% so with such a low rate i can't see mangers changing anything !

If your going to have a wall,why not move it back another 5 yards? It would have to be some dip to beat the keeper. Or why not line up a yard from the line with the keeper in the wall

If the wall is too far back then the taker wouldn't even have to dip the ball as it would be a straight projectory.

Juventus didn't bother with a wall when Celtic had set pieces, they did the same when Celtic had corners, just hold the players so they can't move. They cheated, Just like that team from the other side of Glasgow, at the end of the day cheats always lose. Juventus will not win the CL.

[NoshowJones]

Jusat bend it like Beckham!!

Naw, defend like Juventus, just keep hold of the opposition players, if the opposition players can't move, then they can't score.

[rixalex]

The conversation rate over the last 4 years is just under 8% so with such a low rate i can't see mangers changing anything !

If your going to have a wall,why not move it back another 5 yards? It would have to be some dip to beat the keeper. Or why not line up a yard from the line with the keeper in the wall

If the wall is too far back then the taker wouldn't even have to dip the ball as it would be a straight projectory.

Juventus didn't bother with a wall when Celtic had set pieces, they did the same when Celtic had corners, just hold the players so they can't move. They cheated, Just like that team from the other side of Glasgow, at the end of the day cheats always lose. Juventus will not win the CL.

The shirt tugging and general pushing, pulling and grabbing that goes on during corners and free kicks is probably about the most frequently abused rule in football right now, and it seems like one that is a real nightmare for the refs to police. There is just too much going on to be able to make a sense of it all. Refs have to be 100% certain when giving a pen, and how can they? I really don't know what the solution is.

[smokie36]

The conversation rate over the last 4 years is just under 8% so with such a low rate i can't see mangers changing anything !

If your going to have a wall,why not move it back another 5 yards? It would have to be some dip to beat the keeper. Or why not line up a yard from the line with the keeper in the wall

If the wall is too far back then the taker wouldn't even have to dip the ball as it would be a straight projectory.

Juventus didn't bother with a wall when Celtic had set pieces, they did the same when Celtic had corners, just hold the players so they can't move. They cheated, Just like that team from the other side of Glasgow, at the end of the day cheats always lose. Juventus will not win the CL.

The shirt tugging and general pushing, pulling and grabbing that goes on during corners and free kicks is probably about the most frequently abused rule in football right now, and it seems like one that is a real nightmare for the refs to police. There is just too much going on to be able to make a sense of it all. Refs have to be 100% certain when giving a pen, and how can they? I really don't know what the solution is.

TV refs.

[rixalex]

TV refs.

Indeed that is the obvious answer but i can only see that working if the ref is the one who sees something amiss, and stops the game and asks the TV refs to look at it. If the ref doesn't see it, can't very well have the TV refs interjecting into the game, can we?

So if it depends on the ref seeing something, aren't we back to the almost the same problem?

[NoshowJones]

The conversation rate over the last 4 years is just under 8% so with such a low rate i can't see mangers changing anything !

If your going to have a wall,why not move it back another 5 yards? It would have to be some dip to beat the keeper. Or why not line up a yard from the line with the keeper in the wall

If the wall is too far back then the taker wouldn't even have to dip the ball as it would be a straight projectory.

Juventus didn't bother with a wall when Celtic had set pieces, they did the same when Celtic had corners, just hold the players so they can't move. They cheated, Just like that team from the other side of Glasgow, at the end of the day cheats always lose. Juventus will not win the CL.

The shirt tugging and general pushing, pulling and grabbing that goes on during corners and free kicks is probably about the most frequently abused rule in football right now, and it seems like one that is a real nightmare for the refs to police. There is just too much going on to be able to make a sense of it all. Refs have to be 100% certain when giving a pen, and how can they? I really don't know what the solution is.

Refs don't have to be 100% certain about penalties in the Champions League. Any 50-50 decision is mostly going to go for the Spanish, German, English and Italian teams when they play other teams from smaller countries. The CL is all about money now, there you have Celtic in the last sixteen, yet they still have to play three qualifiers next season to get to the CL group stages.

[rixalex]

at the end of the day cheats always lose. Juventus will not win the CL.

Not sure about that. Porto managed it with some pretty bad cheating. Of course you'd be hard pressed to find any winning team that hadn't indulged in a bit of cheating on the way to the final, but Porto did do more than normal i think. Making up i guess for the fact that they weren't all that.

[NoshowJones]

at the end of the day cheats always lose. Juventus will not win the CL.

Not sure about that. Porto managed it with some pretty bad cheating. Of course you'd be hard pressed to find any winning team that hadn't indulged in a bit of cheating on the way to the final, but Porto did do more than normal i think. Making up i guess for the fact that they weren't all that.

Yes, they did, but that was nine or ten years ago. that would never happen now, it's always going to be teams from the four main countries who reach the final, a team from a smaller country may, just may occasionally reach the semis.

[alfieconn]

I don't know,Alfredo,but those stats you dug out stating that 8 out of every 100 direct free kicks are successful seem a bit on the low side to me.

Sorry about that og , but don't worry i'll try and dig out some more that make your argument look more favourable

Edited February 17, 2013 by alfieconn