IAN LADYMAN: Time-wasting is an endemic in the national game
IAN LADYMAN: Cheating, time-wasting, bluffing and blagging is an endemic in the country’s national game… the ball in-play times over the weekend were a DISGRACE and have been for years
- There seems no alignment from players or managers to see play sped up
- Cheating and time-wasting are an endemic in the country’s national sport
- Ball in-play times over the weekend were a disgrace and have been for years
We are told there is a commitment from the Premier League and its referees to speed up play and encourage more actual football.
The question is: Has anyone told the players or the managers? If they have, then it seems they were not listening.
Let’s be clear. Cheating, time-wasting, bluffing and blagging is endemic in our national sport and it is getting worse. If this dismal trend is to be reversed then we are going to have to see a whole lot more than some spare balls for use at quick throw-ins and a new relaxed style of refereeing that incorporates a higher threshold for what constitutes a foul.
The ball in-play time in the Premier League over the weekend was a disgrace at various games
Cards on the table. I rate our referees on the whole. They exist in an environment in which everything is made hard for them. The players make it hard, the managers make it hard and TV makes it hard. Even VAR, in its own way, makes it hard.
Take a look at the standard of refereeing at this winter’s World Cup. I promise you it will not be as high as it is in the Premier League.
However, when Mike Dean talks on these pages about the desire among referees to see play flow, he fails to identify the real problems. Only when they are addressed will we see significant change.
The standard of refereeing in this country is good but they must start addressing the real issues blighting the national game
Mike says that ‘ball in play’ times improved on the opening weekend. Improved? The truth is they remain a disgrace and have been for years. Less than 52 minutes (out of a total of 110) at Everton. Less than 53 at Manchester United. The same at Newcastle.
This is utterly lamentable and an insult to those who are paying through the nose to turn up at grounds to watch.
Chief among the long list of crimes that contribute to this mess are time-wasting by goalkeepers, the faking of injuries, arguing with officials and, of course, the increasingly torturous practice of making substitutions.
I cannot think of a more damaging rule change in recent times than the introduction of five subs in the Premier League — and the bar for that is already quite high. Presented as some lame nod towards player welfare, it is in reality nothing more than a cheat’s mandate.
Players arguing with officials is a chief cause for the lack of ball in-play time seen in the top division
Of the 77 player changes made in the top division at the weekend, 55 were made in the final 20 minutes and, tellingly, 26 after the 85-minute mark.
Some of those would have been tactical, many will have been designed purely to waste time. Chelsea’s double substitution in the 65th minute of their game at Everton took one minute and 20 seconds to complete. That is pathetic and so is the fact they were allowed to get away with it. Craig Pawson should have had his yellow card out immediately.
This is where the match officials need to be stronger and more decisive. They have the power to caution players for cheating so why don’t they do it more often?
Why book a goalkeeper for persistent dawdling in possession 10 minutes before the end of a game? That achieves nothing. Do it the very first time he tries it. If it is in the first five minutes then so be it.
The already-tortuous act of substitutions is being made even worse by the introduction of five replacements
Referees can be helped, of course. A clock that stops every time the game stops is effective in both codes of rugby. Why not use one in football? A rule preventing the use of substitutions after 80 minutes is also worth considering. Admittedly, that would be a tough one to introduce. What if a player is genuinely injured? In the current climate of faking and cheating, how would we even know?
But football has reached crisis point in terms of the conduct of its players and coaches on match day. As such, everything should be on the table for discussion.
There is no doubting the good intentions of our officials. They have the best interests of our sport at heart.
But I am sorry, Mike, the tweaks and fiddles you mention today sound to me like window dressing, small alterations that only pick at the edges of this problem. It is time to get to the heart of it before it ruins football for good.
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