David Gallagher

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@jsaywardjones @mightybongsmon I am 100% with you. So many people refuse to acknowledge the difference between:
- two players racing side by side and one sticks just their leg in front of the other
- one player is clearly ahead of the other and places their whole body in between the ball and the other player

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@CRYPT0andCARS @BowkerStu The defender did their job by getting side by side to prevent Spence from getting his body across. Hence all Spence could do is jab his leg out, but that isn’t shielding and what the defender did wasn’t a foul.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@PFr1end @DavidVance This graph ends just before Labour got into power, surely?

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu If you have got your centre of mass between the player and the ball, and the ball is within playing distance, you are legally shielding. If not, then you are either challenging (successfully or not) or impeding. There are grey areas because the laws can't exhaustively describe.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@big_c_wilson @Rory_Talks_Ball Reminded me of some glitch moments from the original Half Life game.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu With the possible exception of Eden Hazard, who famously and hilariously used his backside to great effect, every single football player uses their arms to keep distance from an opponent while their body is between player and ball.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@matthewdaughtr2 @BowkerStu The defender isn't coming from the back. They are side-by-side, looked at from the direction in which the ball is going. Spence sticks his leg out and trips himself up, basically.

For what it's worth, I liked the dynamic run - he brought some energy back on that side.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu They use their arms... while their body is between the player and the ball. You can't just clothes-line someone because you were the last to touch the ball.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@AndyT_8889 @MullockSMedia @HACKETTREF He has no more right to any space on the pitch than anyone else, in fact.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@MullockSMedia @HACKETTREF It's not deception. The difference is whether the attacker has moved their centre of gravity - their body - between the player and the ball, or whether they are just stretching a leg in front of the defender. The photo below, just before contact, makes it clear which is happening

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu Go and do some research about ref training on this, or have a think about what being able to shield with any part of your body, without having to use your core, would mean we are permitting in practice.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu He has no more right to any particular space on the pitch than anybody else, ball or no ball.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu There is also guidance in ref training to consider whether or not the player has got their centre of gravity (ie their core) between the player and the ball. That is considered the difference between shielding and making a challenge (that and the ball being in playing distance).

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@FPLSportScience @MarkkuOjala_ Had he actually stepped in front of the defender - moved his body across - it would have been a foul, I think. But he just threw his leg out in front of the defender. His body was not at all between defender and ball. Pity because it was a really dynamic run.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@oooooz48 @BowkerStu Pretty sure it’s more than a leg shoved outside of your path and across someone else’s path. Otherwise every trip would be a foul to the person doing the tripping.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@Eavac__ @caledoniapatria @Sam_LUFC__ If anything, the foul is the other way. But I can see we’re not going to agree so thanks for being civil, more or less🤣

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@Eavac__ @caledoniapatria @Sam_LUFC__ He didn’t and yes he can but it doesn’t make it a foul.

Guaranteed if you’re the defender, you’d swear blind it was a foul against you.

I may not be a brilliant footballer but at least I’m not the type who thinks every ref is against him... just guessing here…

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@Eavac__ @caledoniapatria @Sam_LUFC__ Plenty. You don’t get to throw your leg in an opponent’s path and call it a foul just because you touched the ball last. You have to get your body between them and the ball.

[David Gallagher @dohgallagher]

@BowkerStu It's irrelevant that he's goal-side. To shield a ball you have to put a good amount of your body in between the ball and the defender. The only part of Spence that was between the ball and the defender was his outstretched leg.