Playing Advantage in the PL

[zarathustra]

It is frustrating sometimes, but as has been said you can't compare what constitutes an advantage in the premier League to what constitutes an advantage in the dog and duck league on a Sunday morning.

However, that being said I've seen some absolutely bizarre advantages when watching Gillingham play. On one occasion one of our defenders was in our half and got fouled when he was level with the penalty area and about half way between the penalty area and the sideline facing the corner flag.

The referee played advantage and the player ended up having to just blindly boot it up the field which ended up going out of play.

 

[Tealeaf]

They clearly didn't on a few occasions, Bernardo Silva had the ball and literally stood there for 3 seconds.

This screams “advantage wasted” to me. If he’s got possession and can stand still without being challenged that suggest nobody near him and the chance to do something, ergo advantage. I was listening to talks**** who had commentary and they picked up this particular incident and said pretty much the same thing. He had the opportunity but wasn’t sharp enough to take it.

Not that I can talk of course... notorious for overplaying advantage and having it bite me on the behind!

 

[one]

The whole point of advantage is made a mockery of in the Premier League. Watching City - Arsenal now and there have been 4/5 possession based advantages, no advantage whatsoever for the attacking side. Why shouldn't top level referees be told to referee within the laws rather than what I expect is bowing down to pressure from the league to satisfy TV and clubs.

I have noticed and posted about it in the past as well. There is 'playing advantage' and there is 'letting the game flow'.

The definition of advantage is clear, the team must benefit from playing advantage (POPP requirement, Possession, Opportunity, Players, Proximity). However when there is no real benefit (not all four requirements are met) but the team prefers to continue playing, that is when you let the game flow. It makes for better viewing and enjoyment of the game for players and fans. Top English referees seem to use the advantage signal for the latter case also. Now this could be by design or due to lack of understand of the difference between 'playing advantage' and 'letting the game flow'.

 

[one]

Some good reading on Advantage from Additional Information for Australian Match Officials.

 

[JH]

This screams “advantage wasted” to me. If he’s got possession and can stand still without being challenged that suggest nobody near him and the chance to do something, ergo advantage. I was listening to talks**** who had commentary and they picked up this particular incident and said pretty much the same thing. He had the opportunity but wasn’t sharp enough to take it.

Not that I can talk of course... notorious for overplaying advantage and having it bite me on the behind!

He was either in his own half or just in the opposition half and with no passing options ahead of him. (from memory)

 

[PinnerPaul]

It isn't just the Premier League, I found when I went from L4 to L3 the players often didn't want the game stopping and would rather you play advantage. Depended on the game as the pitches are a bit ropey at some Isthmian D1 grounds, but some are like carpets in the next division and the skill levels much higher. Certainly when I did Football League Under 23 games they always wanted advantage and I'd get grief if I stopped play unnecessarily.

Referees exist for football, not the other way around, so if the clubs, players and spectators want the game kept flowing that is what should happen where possible. Obviously this doesn't work at grass roots as skill levels are much lower so to play advantage it really does need to be clear in terms of both possession and position. As bester said, at top levels the team will usually play a short free kick if given the foul, so why bother? Whereas at grass roots they are far more likely to play it long so the free kick is better.

From experience I agree - academy games and tU23 much prefer advantage if at all possible. Of course, the problem is they then tend to want the free kick if they mess up possession - but that's ignorance of the law rather than wanting the free kick in the first place.