A big problem in football today is the issue of time wasting, for example by running down the clock by delaying putting the ball back into play. Ange Postecoglou opened up about his frustrations with Scottish match officials allowing players to waste time so frequently. And Ange Postecoglou yesterday stated that he is not a fan of the extended stoppage time that is being added to games.
“If we started adding on more time we might have some games that go into the next day! No, I’m not a fan of it. I’d rather the referees just hurried the game up,” the Celtic manager stated, as reported by Scottish Sun.
“That’s where part of the problem lies, especially early in games, when the referees aren’t as strict. Then all of a sudden, you get to the end of the game and they are hurrying up goalkeepers, hurrying up throw-ins.”
“You think, ‘Well, do that at the beginning and you’ll get more game-time’. Ultimately, that’s what you want. That’s what supporters want to see, it’s what football is all about. So rather than having ten minutes added at the end, I would rather refs just hurried people along. A caution or two at the start, players taking liberties will cut it out.
“They won’t do it. You’ll still get your traditional two or three minutes of unavoidable extra time. That’s my frustration. I see it all the time. Opponents will take their time on goal kicks or throw-ins early. Then late in the game, if they are ahead, they are screaming at the ref to hurry the game up.”
Recently, we were able to see FIFA attempt to tackle this problem by adding on almost absurd amounts of stoppage time at the end of the World Cup matches in Qatar. Figures as high as 10 minutes becoming common, with the clock stretching up to the higher teens in some cases. However, after looking at the reasoning for this new policy, it becomes clear that this choice makes sense. It is estimated that the average time of the ball being in play in a World Cup match in the 2018 World Cup in Russia was between 52-58 minutes!
Ange’s frustrations with time wasters seem completely justified, especially since the Bhoys were affected by this issue by being hit with seven minutes of extra time at Pittodrie.
