World referees’ chief Pierluigi Collina says Premier League players will stop time-wasting when more accurate amounts of added time are applied.
Football’s international rule-making body Ifab has announced plans to increase the ‘effective time’ being played during matches.
“The effective time at Aston Villa v Brentford was 43 minutes,” said Collina who chairs Fifa’s referees’ committee.
“I don’t think someone wants to pay to watch a match that lasts 43 minutes.”
Italian former World Cup referee Collina has been given figures that show Premier League matches have an effective time of 54.49 minutes, while it is even lower in the Scottish Premier League at 50.42 minutes.
Champions League matches have an effective time of 58.07 minutes, said Collina.
Ifab has decided the actual amount of time taken in five key areas – substitutions, player injuries, penalties and red cards, VAR and goal celebrations – should be used when calculating overall stoppage time rather than an estimate.
It is accepted this would initially mean the amount of stoppage time increasing, although it is felt this would reduce once players realised the time they were taking was just being added.
“We have seen implementing VAR has reduced simulation. How many cards are now given for simulation? Very little because the players know it is meaningless to try,” said 63-year-old Collina, who refereed the 2002 World Cup final.
“I am convinced time wasting will be reduced when players know it is meaningless to waste time because that time is compensated.”
Why accurate time matters – even when the score is 7-0
Collina said the additional time in Liverpool’s recent Champions League defeat by Real Madrid at Anfield was seven minutes but if the amount actually wasted in the second half had been assessed correctly, it would have been 16.
More time should also have been added to Liverpool’s seven-goal thrashing of Manchester United if new guidance had been applied properly, he said.
“Last weekend in the Premier League, there were 10 matches,” Collina said.
“Four had additional time of 10 minutes or more and some of the others didn’t have the accurate amount, probably because they had scores of 7-0 and 4-0.
“In the game at Liverpool, there was four minutes added, one in the first half and three in the second. But there were six goals in the second-half.
“Maybe at some point in the future we will have a rule which says if the difference between the two sides is big the additional time is not to be given. But this would be in the laws of the game.
“Now it is common sense but it is common sense when it doesn’t affect someone.
“I can understand that showing the right amount of time when it is 7-0 is difficult to understand.
“But if the regulations say the entire goal difference can make a difference in the ranking at the end of a competition, one goal scored or not can make a difference.”
