Matt Maher: Are we only penalising the time-wasters?
And we thought playing the World Cup in the winter would ensure last season was the longest ever.
Instead, at least in terms of minutes played, the current campaign will surely set new records thanks to new timekeeping rules which, it is fair to say, have divided opinion. A desire to keep the ball in play for longer has led to a crackdown on time-wasting through the Premier League and EFL and is resulting in stoppage time periods similar in length to those seen at Qatar 2022.
Unsurprisingly, players and those who manage them have been left unimpressed, with Manchester United defender Raphael Varane the most vocal critic so far. “As a player I feel very privileged to do the job I love every day but I feel these changes are damaging our game,” he said last week. He went on to claim the schedule has become so overcrowded it is now at a “dangerous” level for players’ mental and physical health.
Just as well then, Varane does not ply his trade in League One.
Or, more precisely, for Shrewsbury Town, who have seen at least 10 minutes added to the second halves of all three league matches they have played so far.
While an injury to goalkeeper Marko Marosi which required lengthy treatment made the minutes added to Tuesday’s win over Burton understandable, the additional periods played in games against Cheltenham and Stevenage were less easy to explain.
Those who attended the latter matches claim there was little sign of egregious time-wasting.
Shrewsbury’s head coach Matt Taylor is not the type to make excuses but is concerned about the impact those extra minutes – with his team already well on the way to having played an extra match – will have on the welfare on his players. Town have already adapted their training sessions in response. Taylor thinks it will be next month until the impact starts to become clear.
It’s easy, from the sidelines, to say the players should just get on with it. Statistics showed the ball was in play for an average of just 50 minutes in League One matches last season.
Some of the time-wasting in the Premier League – Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez is one of the prime culprits – has become rather cynical.
Then again, there are occasions you need to listen to the professionals. For all their complaints, timekeeping is set to stay one of this season’s most talked about topics.
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