Marco van Basten’s eight-point plan to shake up football upsets Premier League as he wants to ditch offside and bring in sin bins
Holland legend's radical ideas are opposed by top bosses in England like Arsene Wenger and Slaven Bilic
PREMIER LEAGUE managers have cried foul over Marco van Basten’s proposal to scrap the offside rule.
Fifa technical chief Van Basten put forward eight changes in a bid to revolutionise football.
The ex-AC Milan and Holland star wants to ditch offside, replace penalty shootouts with eight-second run-ups and shots and introduce orange cards that sin-bin players for ten minutes.
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He also proposed fewer matches each season and floated the idea of binning extra-time and going straight to shootouts.
And he suggested limiting kids’ matches to eight-a-side, stopping the clock every time the ball goes out of play in the final ten minutes and only allowing captains to speak to referees.
But Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said: “Some of the proposals are worth discussing, some I don’t see any big interest. The one I don’t find interesting is to suppress offside.
“Offside is what makes the team good together. It is an intelligent rule as well, it is important to keep that in the game.
“Overall football improves. People say it is too tight and compact but football has always been like that, defence creates a problem for the attack and the attack finds a solution.”
Wenger did agree with Van Basten’s proposal about captains and refs but felt it would be difficult to implement.
He added: “It’s a very good proposal. We all dream of that but it never happens in our sport.”
Slaven Bilic also doubted whether getting rid of offside would work.
The West Ham chief said: “For me the major one is offside. I can’t imagine what football would look like but my first reaction is it’s impossible.
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“Everybody would love to have a rest by the goalkeeper on the post and just tap in the ball.
“Maybe try it and see it on a pitch. If I had to say now, I’d say no.”
Spurs rival Mauricio Pochettino warned Van Basten to tread carefully.
He said: “I understand that sometimes when you are in some positions you need to try to find ideas but I don’t want a machine without offside.
“If we play without rules, we have to be careful with that.
“My first impression is be careful. Because, in football, to change the rules is a very difficult thing.”
Van Basten has said he will listen to views on his proposals before anything is put before the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
IFAB, the game’s lawmakers, will hold their annual general meeting in London on March 3 and 4.