Referees: Killing our beautiful game!

As we all know, a football game cannot go ahead without any sort of authority figure officiating our game. This would have to be one of the most difficult jobs going around these days in modern football. They have two assistants who run the line, and a 4th official who (lets be honest) does nothing but hold up a board showing the substitutions. But THE biggest issue in today's football has to be, are referee's destroying our game?

The reason it has taken me this long to publicly rant about this issue is because I have had false hope that this issue would somehow smooth over. But, after watching the absolute farcical acts of A-League referee Jarred Gillet during the Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory game have got to have caused some ringing alarm bells for FFA officials to get up of their corporate behinds and do something about this. The 76th minute straight red card of Adama Traore is nothing short of a joke! This was his first card of the game and, at first sight I thought that Traore would've showed studs going in on the opposition player. But the replay shows that Traore got the ball and had minimal contact with the player.

Referee incompetency aside, other sports have begun to use technology to assist officiating during their matches, and even eliminate the complete howler. So why cant football? Why doesnt the 4th official actually make himself useful? These referee's have microphones, what for? Why not have the 4th official up in the stands to override the referee's decision?

Now with these so-called 'officials'. I'm under the impression that a good referee is one that has minimal influence on the game. It looks like that referee's these days want to make a name for themselves by causing controversy and throwing the essence of our game out of the window. In my opinion, Jarred Gillet should be reprimanded and demoted to youth league matches. This was an absolute farce! But this is not the first time refereeing has been incompetent in our game. This happens all over the world. This must be fixed ASAP!!

In conclusion, my opinion is that a good official should allow the game to flow, should allow a game to be the spectacle that it should be and should have fans barging the door down to watch. But when officials are worried about getting sufficient air time on television, this is when we know that football is no longer about 11 players playing with a round ball. Referees are only human and are bound to make a mistake. So why not use technology to override the 'howler' decision? Other sports are in the 21st century. Why not football?

Has 4-2-3-1 lost it's gloss?

I just read an article on www.guardian.co.uk about the 4-2-3-1 formation. The real question here is has this formation lost its gloss?

I've been swearing by this formation for a very long time and I've broken my defenders out of the habit of kicking the ball long. I've always been about playing out from the back, getting my DM to drop deep and to be the deep-lying playmaker that can dictate play and control the middle.

But having read this article, it makes me think... is 4-4-2 the way to go? The 4-4-2 formation has been the backup option for many football managers, due to it's robustness and accountability in the backline.

The 4-2-3-1 formation has allowed me to create fantastic distribution from behind and all around the pitch. Yet, I have found time and time again that once my boys lose the ball, that hunger and desire of winning the ball back is somewhat lost. Look, I'm all about playing attractive football and playing the opposition off the park, although football is predominantly results based and its shown in the premier league that the fans don't necessarily care about the brand of football played. It's all about that three points!

Stoke City

Boring yet effective?

As we all know, Stoke City are well renowned for playing a bland, outdated and boring style of football. Although, Tony Pulis has found himself still in a job! Why?

As we see time and time again, Stoke find a way to get a result. Even though they've been outplayed in every facet of the game. Their defence, led by Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross, has been so difficult to break down in recent years, AND teams actually focus on an away fixture to Britannia stadium due to the difficulty of getting the three points there.

Is one formation better than the other? Who knows?