Spurs vs Newcastle

[Peter Grove]

Just noticed isak was cautioned for not going off despite his number on the board (as sub).
If player doesn't go off, is it a yellow card offence or do you just play on and let the club deal with it?
Didn't it happen a few years back with keepers... Chelsea in euro tie if I recall.

I'm not 100% sure (because the camera was zoomed in on him and I couldn't see the field markings) but given how long he seemed to keep walking before he left the field and knowing how wide a football pitch is, I suspect he did not leave the field, "by the nearest point on the boundary line," as Law 3 requires.

When the amendment requiring this was brought in, the explanation stated:

A player who infringes the spirit of this Law should be sanctioned for unsporting behaviour i.e. delaying the restart of play.

 

[Peter Grove]

"If a player who is to be substituted refuses to leave, play continues"

Happened with Kepa, don't recall him being cautioned

It's not a cautionable offence to refuse to leave the field entirely. However if you do leave but in doing so, take too much time about it (including not leaving by the nearest point) then as mentioned above, you should be cautioned for delaying the restart.

 

[Peter Grove]

Seems like a unatraully bigger position to me.

Highly debatable.

No. 7 is literally touching ball with hand.

That doesn't make it a handball offence.

It also gives him an unfair advantage with the hand.

Utterly irrelevant in law.

 

[Peter Grove]

It needs to be in a natural position for the action he is doing.

That's not quite what the law says - and I think deliberately so. I reckon that it's precisely because the definition of "natural" or "unnatural" position is so vague and subjective that they changed it to a "position [that] is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation."

Rightly or wrongly (and I think rightly) the IFAB apparently considered that the new wording sets a more objective standard for judging whether the position of a player's hand/arm lends itself to a handball offence or not.