The sliding tackle

[AucklandRover]

Has it, to all intents and purposes, been outlawed?
The "offence" which brought Corry Evans a Yellow Card would not have even been awarded a free kick in my day.
He was clearly aiming at the ball; his first contact was WITH the ball; only in his follow-through was there any contact with the Bolton player...and the laws of physics mean you can't stop dead.
I am all in favour of the fact that skilful players get more protection nowadays, but I wonder if it hasn't gone too far (in the same way that limited overs cricket is heavily loaded towards batsmen). Apart from anything else, it has certainly encouraged more "diving".

[robinrover]

It's almost a non contact game these days
if it was a premiership game there might of been a few reds dotted about
By the way how Silva didn't get sent off I will never know apart from that ref had a good game I thought been a while since I said that.

[blueandwhitehalves1]

Yes it has been outlawed. The money men that have long controlled the shamelessly corrupt FIFA don't like their multi-million pound investments to be injured. Slide tackles can cause injury, an arm across the chest, tug of the shirt, bear hug doesn't cause injury. So the rules of the game have slowly been altered to discourage asset-risky tackling and to encourage asset-safe fouling.

It's sickening, it makes football less of a sport, and personally it's encouraged me to cancel my sky sports subscription. But unless everyone else does the same, nothing will change. FIFA are like Venkys, utterly selfish and ignorant unless, and only if, faced with financial destruction.