The style of play Unai Emery has brought to Aston Villa has been an utter joy to watch.
Yes, there are many occasions when it can make the Aston Villa fans nervous, but the results are there for all to see.
Plus, it’s a stark difference from the rubbish Steven Gerrard used to dish out!
One of the key aspects of Aston Villa’s play is the offside trap or playing that high line, to put it simply, we are the kings of it.
Just go back to January and the Champions League-chasing side had caught their opponents offside on 101 occasions from the start of the campaign (WhoScored), that was the most of any teams from the top five leagues in Europe.
But IFAB, the International Football Association Board, who make the big rule changes to the game, are trialling, for a third year, an offside rule that just wouldn’t help Aston Villa at all.
New offside rule on the offing from IFAB?
As of this moment, a player is offside when, according to Law 11.1:
‘Any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponent’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent’.
But the suggestion being put forward now is that you are only offside when your ‘whole body is ahead of the last defender’.
Just in a general sense, it’s a load of rubbish and they shouldn’t try to fix something that isn’t broken.
Not only would this seriously hurt Villa’s want to play that high line if it comes into real practice.
But it would just result in goals galore and matches turning into basketball games.
Yes, more goals are great for the game because, at the end of the day, it’s what provides the entertainment.
But you need the balance and the powers that be need to be careful that they don’t go overboard here because they are already clueless about the decisions they make, from the constant rule changes to the baffling handball rule.
Hopefully, for the sake of Villa and their use of the offside trap as a weapon, this new ruling suggestion doesn’t come into play and merely remains as a trail, and nothing else!
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