Ball-in-Play Time Getting Worse Again

Alan Harper's Tash said:
The other thing that needs stopping is keepers going down “injured” for time outs.

Making them leave the pitch for 30 seconds would stop that instantly.
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Given that they will never do that because of the odd occasions where a keeper actually needs treatment, another solution would be that if a goalkeeper goes down for treatment, somebody else on the team has to leave the pitch. Make it for a whole minute to deter people from risking it.

On the broader topic of timekeeping, I don't think this is a hard problem to solve, just have a timekeeper - stop the clock when it goes out of play and reduce the game time. This isn't one of those problems where we don't have the solution, we just don't want to implement it for a number of reasons. Mainly the number of people who would moan if the game was actually technically longer but the clock said 70 minutes.

A timekeeper doesn't stop teams from slowing momentum in the game, but I see that as a borderline legitimate tactic rather than breaking the rules. As long as the ball is in play for the same amount of time so it is fair and people aren't gaming fake injuries, that's all I really care about.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
Not sure it’s just the players. It seems a definite tactic at Arsenal to delay corners to try and make the opposition switch off.

Seems weird now that they’ve only clamped down on keepers holding the ball.

Long throws, especially this season, are taking ages out of games.

Perhaps a 30 second limit on corners and throws might improve things marginally.
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This.
A goal kick is awarded. If not taken inside 25 seconds the other team get a corner.

A corner is awarded. If not taken within 25 seconds the other team get a goal kick.

A throw in. 10 seconds or the other team get the throw.
 
Mad Eyed Screamer said:
This.
A goal kick is awarded. If not taken inside 25 seconds the other team get a corner.

A corner is awarded. If not taken within 25 seconds the other team get a goal kick.

A throw in. 10 seconds or the other team get the throw.
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And any attempt to prevent them taking it, it gets switched to a free kick.

While we're at it, if you go down injured, you have to go off the pitch for double the amount of time the game was stopped for you. If you're really injured, you'd need it anyway, and it'd incentivise players actually getting off the pitch for treatment quickly. Probably quite hard to implement though.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
And any attempt to prevent them taking it, it gets switched to a free kick.

While we're at it, if you go down injured, you have to go off the pitch for double the amount of time the game was stopped for you. If you're really injured, you'd need it anyway, and it'd incentivise players actually getting off the pitch for treatment quickly. Probably quite hard to implement though.
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Unless the player leaves the field for treatment so that play doesn’t have to stop.

If a player goes down injured, 99% of the time they could get up and be treated off the field.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
And any attempt to prevent them taking it, it gets switched to a free kick.

While we're at it, if you go down injured, you have to go off the pitch for double the amount of time the game was stopped for you. If you're really injured, you'd need it anyway, and it'd incentivise players actually getting off the pitch for treatment quickly. Probably quite hard to implement though.
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VAR should be able to intervene when these players go down like Lee Harvey Oswald is in the stadium, getting a tap on the chin and holding their faces. Yellow card.
 
ysmsa said:
Too many stupid rules and the refs don't help.

Not taking a goal kick from the side the ball went out is the most stupid thing ever introduced, plays right into the hands of time wasters.
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two defenders in box then piss about and decide to hoof when said defenders on halfway line
 
Guaranteed within 2/3 mins of kick off I'm tapping my wrist and screaming Get in with it you **** from SS3.

As for the data in those figures, they're probably a bit 'off' as we tend to get in with it, especially on the odd free kick we get awarded but, I'm still surprised we're where we are in the list. I suppose other teams on average waste more time against us than other opponents.
 
.db. said:
For years we’ve all been bored to death with all the time wasting in the game.

There did seem to be steps forward made with more time being added on at the end of halves and games a few years ago, but that’s ended now with so many fans moaning about it (and maybe the early leavers still leaving on 80minutes so stadiums were empty for over 20 minutes making the product look shit might have had something to do with that!).

There’s a distinct lack of officials enforcing the speeding up of the game. Too few bookings for time wasting, not enough time added on, and teams just seem to be allowed to waste time at will now. We are paying all this money to just watch a load of blokes stood still on some grass for over half an hour of the game.

But this season, especially, it seems to have got even worse with the amount of time it’s taking for teams to take throw-ins, corners and free kicks, and having a lie down for a bit pretending to be injured.

View attachment 174203

One second short of 2 minutes a game less than last season. Over 3 minutes a game less than two seasons ago.

www.theguardian.com

Long games, less action: how much is the ball in play in the Premier League?

The average Premier League game lasts 100 minutes and 36 seconds, but the ball is only in play for 54.7% of that
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com


We used to be well ahead of the rest of the league with BIP stats:

View attachment 174204

But this season it’s been very noticeable that teams are taking an age to do anything against us, and yet our games are still third highest in the league for BIP:

View attachment 174205

I’ve been making a point of looking at the clock when the ball goes out for an throw-ins or corners this season (either at the Etihad or non-City games on tele) and throws can take as long as 45 seconds if they’re near the opposition box and some corners take over a minute. It’s mind-numblingly boring. Some of those teams down the bottom of the list; their games must be proper shit to watch.

Something needs to be done about it!

Other codes of football actively look at ways to speed the game up:
In rugby league there’s a countdown clock at drop-outs and scrums, if time runs out the opposition get the ball. And the ref will call ‘Six-Again’ and restart the tackle count for the set if a defence slows down the ruck too much.
In rugby union the ref will call ‘use it’ at a ruck when the ball is in a position to be played.

Since the countdown clocks and ‘Six-again’ calls came into rugby league, the ball-in-play is at an average of 67% or 63 minutes in an 80 minute match. Some individual matches get well over 70% BIP. It feels like perpetual motion compared to football.
Rugby union BIP has gone up 33% since turning professional in 1995 (although it’s still less than football).
Although you can dismiss gridiron because the ball isn’t even in-play for 6% of the time on the game clock in the NFL (5.79%).

Football targeted the one area that wasn’t even a problem with the 8-second rule for keepers with the ball in their hands. That’s never been an issue with regards to time wasting, that rule coming in was pointless (it has already been 6-seconds in the past!).

It’s the dead-ball situations that need speeding up in football: goal kicks, free kicks, throw-ins and corners, and refs need to start ignoring players having a lie down pretending to be injured.
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Excellent post
 
Mad Eyed Screamer said:
This.
A goal kick is awarded. If not taken inside 25 seconds the other team get a corner.

A corner is awarded. If not taken within 25 seconds the other team get a goal kick.

A throw in. 10 seconds or the other team get the throw.
Click to expand...
I was going to reply with similar thoughts, also alluded to by the OP. Stick a clock on restarts and if the ball isn't back in play within 10 or 20 seconds, or whatever the allocated time is, then the team loses the restart. A countdown clock like in rugby should be introduced. The punters are being short changed. Paying a lot more, getting a lot of cheating and gamesmanship in return.

I also don't like how referees condone it. They could easily clamp down on the slowing the game tactics, but they just allow it, sometimes issuing a token caution to a low profile player like O'Reilly.
 
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