Forget the letter of the law, let’s brainstorm our way to a better game | Max Rushden

Football’s laws aren’t perfect so it’s at least worth trying to improve them. Grab a Sharpie and pull up a bean bag …

Where is your arm right now? Would you say it’s in a natural position? Isn’t it always in a natural position? Is your natural position the same as my natural position?

And if you’ve just wrestled with Davinson Sánchez for a few seconds before he volleys the ball from point-blank range vaguely near you, where naturally would you put your arm? This is a question for Ashley Barnes’s subconscious – or it’s a question that Ashley Barnes’s subconscious got wrong last Sunday. It chose … poorly. It was not the holy grail of natural positions – unless, of course, you think he intentionally put his arm in that spot. It is his brain, I suppose.