Arsene Wenger, former Arsenal manager and FIFA president, defends the time-wasting crackdown and said Extended stoppage time would have a physical impact on players.
- Extended stoppage team and increase in bookings have sparked huge debate
- Arsene Wenger insists new time-wasting rules will be better in the long run
Arsene Wenger believes football’s new time-wasting restrictions will benefit the game in the long run by moulding player conduct.
An extended pause team and an increase in bookings have created controversy, with UEFA stating this week that it will not follow the regulations.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, now FIFA’s head of global football development, believes the good benefits can already be seen in the men’s and women’s World Cups in Qatar, followed by Australia and New Zealand.
He also denied that it would have any physical impact on the players.
‘I would say are you against wasting time,’ he told The Independent. Personally, I would say absolutely. I am opposed to waste time. We want to reward the team that wants to play for the sake of the game’s equity.
‘For the respect of the fans in the stands, the teams to play, to encourage the teams not to squander time. After that, it seemed logical to me to combat time-wasting. Following that, the second question is how. Then you must decipher the logic.
‘The reasoning should be for me to include both intentional and unintentional time wasted. Do you set a time limit? Personally, I am opposed to limiting it because once it becomes the same as the offside, people say give them five inches or two inches, and then they say why not three. It is difficult to defend a judgment when there is no reasoning behind it. So we must continue to do so.’
