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Mikel Arteta may have “loved” Arsenal’s narrow win at Crystal Palace but believes a stopwatch may be needed to iron out inconsistencies in time-wasting after Takehiro Tomiyasu fell foul of the rules.
The Gunners won 1-0 in south London as Martin Odegaard’s second-half penalty proved the difference.
Japan defender Tomiyasu was sent off at Selhurst Park, picking up a soft yellow card for a foul on Jordan Ayew just seven minutes after being cautioned for perceived time-wasting at a throw-in. Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off by David Coote
The new remit for officiating this season has called, among other changes, for a clampdown on time-wasting but Arteta believes the timing did not add up on Tomiyasu’s booking.
Asked about the rule changes, Arteta replied: “For me it is not an issue.
The referee makes that call.
“And we are consistent with that. They explained it. The only thing we are asking for is consistency. If not we need to play with a stopwatch to understand what is and what is not.”
Arteta did not agree when told Tomiyasu had waited 23 seconds to take the throw-in before being cautioned — replying: “It wasn’t. I think it was eight seconds. We might have to play with a stopwatch.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard admits there needs to be a period of adaption to new Premier League rules. “I don’t know if it’s difficult but it’s new rules so we have to adapt,” he said.
“This is the standards.”
“The first yellow card was harsh, I don’t think he [Tomiyasu] was trying to take a lot of time, he just didn’t have anyone to play to. It’s a bit tricky but we have to adapt. That’s the reality, we can’t do anything else.
“It’s easier to get yellow cards now so you have to be careful and that goes for me as well. It’s something to have in mind but I don’t think we should think too much about the rules. We should stay focused on the game.”
Managers can have short memories when it comes to viewing incidents through the prism of their own allegiances.
At the start of the year, a Sky Sports investigation revealed that nearly half of Premier League action is inactive, lost to time-wasting, VAR deliberations and other pauses in the game – and the issue is getting worse.
On average, ‘in-play action’ only comprised 55.9 per cent of matches last season – the lowest in 11 years since records began – and has been on an incremental slide in eight of those campaigns.
Indeed, back in January, Arteta showed himself to be a strong advocate of the new strict implementation of the rules when accusing Newcastle of time-wasting after their 0-0 draw at the Emirates.
The game itself had 52 per cent of active play.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) which is the body responsible for refereeing games in English professional football revealed their new approach to the game.
“In the forthcoming campaign, the exact time lost when certain game events occur will now be added: goals and subsequent celebrations, substitutions, injuries and treatment time [if required],” the PGMOL said in a statement.
Time for penalties or red cards will also be counted from the moment of the offence until the player leaves the field or the whistle is blown for the penalty.
The referees’ body noted that in previous seasons the policy was to aggregate a nominal period of time.
Match referees will now take a more vigorous approach to dealing with deliberate actions which delay the restart of play such as failing to respect the required distance for free-kicks or refusing to receive treatment off the pitch.
The multi-ball system, which allows a match to resume with another ball when the original goes out of play and has been shown to increase playing time, will also be adopted.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has been very clear with its guidelines, in the hope that players heed the warning.
Of the 14 cases so far, the majority have come at throw-ins – which have previously been viewed as a common way of eating up time to slow down a game to suit a team’s interests.
In the Tomiyasu case, the Japan international was penalised for holding onto the ball for eight seconds but Arsenal were collectively in possession of the restart for 23 seconds as two team-mates passed on the responsibility.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Gary Neville believes Tomiyasu’s red card will have a bigger impact on time-wasting for players than adding 15 minutes on at the end of games.
“What I would say of the first yellow is I went to see Howard Webb a couple of weeks ago and we said the existing laws within the game cater to be able to stop time-wasting and that’s called a yellow card and would lead to a red card.
“I think if players are starting to get sent off, this one [Tomiyasu’s second yellow] is always going to be a yellow card.
“But if you’ve got defenders or other players on the pitch that are wasting time – you’re going to get booked.
“This will have a bigger impact, this sending off, on time-wasting for players than it will be adding 15 minutes on at the end.”
“The rule is there, we know what it is,” Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports.
“I said I felt a little bit unfortunate for Tomiyasu because he took one for the team. It was almost Partey then Havertz, it was almost a yellow card for the team’s time-wasting, and they had to give it to someone.
“He got it. You almost feel it’s an injustice when you’ve had a man sent off [referring to Arteta], a little bit of a siege mentality. But it was the right decision to send him off.
Arteta may look to the other examples seen in the opening fortnight of the Premier League season and feel there have been discrepancies over the length of time that warrants a booking for time-wasting.
Some referees would appear to have been more lenient than others.
Do we really want to go down the route of introducing a stop-clock like rugby, with shorter halves and where the clock stops whenever ball is out of play so everyone knows where they stand?
While the idea of a stopwatch – seen to a degree in tennis with a countdown clock before the taking of a serve – may seem a little tongue-in-cheek and fanciful, managers and players alike have been left under no illusions that referees are taking the new directive very seriously in a bid to clamp down on the amount of time the ball is out of play. — Sundayworld.com.
Online Reporter