Time to change the laws of the game

[FindernRam]

Watching the frankly uninteresting Euro 16 matches it is striking how few goals there have been even when one team has massive possesion advantage. Also the minnows have been doing very well against the giants of the game. It is fairly easy to see why this is so. Pack the box and there is no room for shots and often no space to show ball control skill. I think we are overdue a change to the laws.
When the laws were first formulated back in the 1880s players were smaller slower and not as fit as now, piches were heavier and boots weighed a ton. Forwards stayed forward. Watch any old movie of games and a feature is how few players are in the box. Watching matches this last few weeks there have been 19 or 20 players in there, (all wrestling, but thats another issue). Some of the evidence is how many late goals there are when even todays players tire and cannot cover back.
The offside law stops players moving too far forward and I think there should be a rule that two players from a team should not cross the halfway line into their own half for corners or free kicks. This would routinely reduce the players in or around the box by five as the defence will keep 3 back for cover. The game would be a lot more open. Would do it for open play as well but cannot see an easy "penalty" to apply that wouldn't give the defence an advantage. A full penalty seems too much

[AngryRam]

I'm struggling with that to be honest..
The game evolves, always has done. No need to change the rules too much.. Half penalties?

Always wondered what an opposition manager would do at a corner if the defending team left 4 up front... Does he cover those or say, sod it and keep his players in the penalty area..

[triz]

The refs seem to be officiating in order to make the game dull. Look at the Slovakia game for instance, 5 minutes of injury time given and the ref blows up on 4:59. Apparently skrtal time wasting on the floor 2 minutes doesn't warrant stopping your watch, so now we encourage players to just lie around. That's great to watch isn't it. Not to mention the 20 seconds the goalkeeper took to kick the ball out after gaining control of it, twice !!! (Yes I counted). Timekeeping needs to be taken away from the refs as even though it is supremely simple, it is beyond them.

Plus I can't count the amount of obvious fouls that haven't been given this euros as a player hasn't dived. In order to get a rightful free kick you have to not try your best to keep the game moving and not struggle to keep your feet, you just fling yourself to the floor.

But regarding the op, the main reason so many teams are packing the box is because of the amount of teams in the comp and the amount of 3rd placed finished teams that will go through. If Slovakia couldn't qualify in 3rd place they wouldn't have had 8 defenders on the pitch vs England.

[ramAnag]

Not sure that time keeping is so 'supremely simple' in the context of all that is sometimes going on around Triz.
It's been successfully taken away from the refs in both rugby codes and imo the games are better for having independent time keepers.
With (not so) modern technology, fans and players alike are left in no doubt about how long is left and at a time when 'cheating' is increasingly commonplace that leaves one less thing for the referee to concern himself with.

[triz]

I meant for timekeeping as obvious as a player going down for a long 'injury' break (especially when your in injury time and the player is clearly cheating), and the ref not stopping his watch, that really is supremely simple. The rest you could kind of forgive, but for stuff that clear it doesn't take much. You just press a button. The refs are watching subs dawdle on, physios pretending they didn't know they could come on, players pretend to be hurt, goalies flagrantly disregarding the 6 sec goalie rule, and they can't press a button at any point to stop them cheating and to make the game more entertaining.

It's another thing that rattles my chain anagram mate. Take the watch off the useless so and so's.

[Andy_Faber]

The offside law stops players moving too far forward and I think there should be a rule that two players from a team should not cross the halfway line into their own half for corners or free kicks. This would routinely reduce the players in or around the box by five as the defence will keep 3 back for cover. The game would be a lot more open. Would do it for open play as well but cannot see an easy "penalty" to apply that wouldn't give the defence an advantage. A full penalty seems too much

The idea of players being limited to certain zones applies in netball, which makes the game fast flowing and physically demanding (you disagree? try playing against an average women's league team, they'd murder you) - compare that to the otherwise similar basketball where 90% of the play is at walking pace and repeatedly across a packed defence. I doubt football has the appetite to change though, look how long it took to adopt Hawkeye, even after cricket and then tennis showed it could ADD to the spectacle