PREMIER LEAGUE
MOLINEUX, KO 8PMDM1ST
MONDAY 19.08.2019 DAILY MIRRORREDS’ STARS
AT THE BACK
Maguire and
Lindelof hope to
join Old Trafford’s
rock-solid
defensive double
acts Bruce and
Pallister (top)
and Vidic and
Ferdinandmirror.co.uk/sport^45
HEALTH is in your genes.
Discover and exploit your
genetic gifts, visit muhdo.comthe European transfer
deadline, according to boss
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Pogba said there is
“always that question
mark” when asked about
his future last week, with
Real Madrid still keen to
take him to the Bernabeu
before September 2.
But Solskjaer said: “For
me, yeah, he’s going to stay.”because it would leave them
with only Marcus Rashford and
Anthony Martial as their senior
strikers. But Sanchez has made
it clear he wants to go.
His move to Old Trafford has
been a disaster and his wages
have also caused a major
problem with top stars like
David de Gea demanding parity.
But Paul Pogba (right) will
not be leaving United beforeUNITED MISFIT SANCHEZ READY FOR SWITCH TO INTER
the season with a £15million
option to make the move
permanent next summer.
But it would also mean
United would have to
subsidise his whopping
£500,000-a-week wages.
Inter have held talks with
Sanchez and his advisers
about a switch. It would be a
major gamble on United’s partSAM QUEK
Olympic hockey hero... football fanatic
WHEN Gabriel Jesus’ last-
minute goal against Tottenham
was chalked off due to Aymeric
Laporte’s accidental handball,
the VAR haters came out in
force.
VAR though is doing what it
is supposed to do, which is to
dramatically increase the
accuracy of decisions that
affect the outcome of matches.
The real problem is the new
Law 12 regarding handballs,
which states:
“It is an offence if a player:
gains possession/control of the
ball after it has touched their
hand/arm and then scores or
creates a goal-scoring
opportunity.”
This rule is the issue,
because the powers that be, in
their effort to make football as
robotic and therefore “fair” as
possible, have removed any
room for personal
interpretation or ambiguity, yet
this has actually made the
game more unfair.
Under the old rule, any
player could commit an
accidental handball at any time
and should go unpunished, so
it was always equal and fair at
that point.
It didn’t matter who was
attacking or who was
defending. Referees were left
to interpret what was
deliberate, or accidental, or
whether an arm was in a
natural or unnatural position.
But often this could be
inconsistent from referee to
referee and from game togame. So, to combat this
inconsistency, Law 12 was
introduced this season.
However, because these
interpreted decisions were
consistently inconsistent, it
was generally accepted that
over the course of time the
benefits of these decisions
would even themselves out,
and across a full season it
would generally be fair for all.
This new handball rule won’t
ever even itself out though,
because only the attacking
team are penalised for
accidental handballs and
therefore teams that are more
attacking will be penalised
more often.
In City’s game with Spurs,
they had 30 attempts on goal
to Tottenham’s three, they had
11 more corners and also had
52 touches in the opponent’s
box versus Tottenham’s five in
the City box.
That means City were
around 10 times more likely to
lose out due to the new rule,
and this will continue for every
game they play this season.
The rule isn’t only unfair, it
also penalises attacking
football and reduces the
number of goals – which no
football fan wants.
Go back to the old way. It
wasn’t perfect, but it was
better!
And let’s get rid of extra
time in the Super Cup too.
No team wants it and it just
adds too big a burden to teams
so early in the season.Law 12 is hands
down the worst
rule in the book
(^17) / 2
Man Utd to
win 2-1
RIO FERDINAND and NEMANJA VIDIC
Ferdinand 12 years (02-14),
455 appearances, 8 goals
Vidic Eight years (06-14), 300 appearances,
21 goals
THE best United partnership of the Premier League
era. Ferdinand won 11 major honours and Vidic had 10,
including 11 league title medals between them. They
also won the 2008 Champions League.
STEVE BRUCE and GARY PALLISTER
Bruce Nine years (87-96), 414 appearances, 51 goals
Pallister Nine years (89-98), 437 appearances, 15 goals
They helped United win Alex Ferguson’s first trophy (the
1990 FA Cup) as well as the 1991 Cup Winners Cup, the
Premier League in 1993 and the Double in 1994.
JAAP STAM and RONNY JOHNSEN
Stam Four years (98-02) 127 appearances, 1 goal
Johnsen six years (96-02), 150 appearances, 9 goals
Certainly not as celebrated as the others owing to
Johnsen’s injury problems and Stam’s sharp exit after a
fallout with Fergie. But they ran the defence on THAT
night in Barcelona in 1999’s Champions League final.
UNITED’S
LEGENDARY
CENTRAL DEFENCES
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