| Sent to EFL 06:10 - Oct 16 with 4572 views | pennblue |
Hi,
As an Ipswich supporter, I feel the majority of the matches this season have been spoilt by teams deliberately disrupting the flow of the game. Here is a comment from a Lincoln supporter yesterday:
3. I also learned that the "time out" is still a Lincoln speciality even though the Cowleys are long gone from this parish. On 65 minutes with an Ipswich goal seeming inevitable, Rushworth needed treatment that allowed our "Rookie" head coach time to reset the team and the flow of the game to thankfully be disturbed. I knew MK is no rookie a good while ago but using an old trick used by many including our former manager, may give some less convinced, a bit of confidence, he knows what he's up to.
The trouble is, it is actually ruining the game of football. I think the only effective way of dealing with it, is to keep adding on more and more time, almost double the time, until teams stop doing this. The team time wasting has to be penalised for them to want to stop doing it, because currently, if they go down 7 times in a second half, even if they get 7 minutes of extra time, it means they have broken the flow of the game 7 times over, which has in effect, stopped the opposition gaining any kind of momentum in the match. So it is an effective game management strategy for teams to employ currently.
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| Sent to EFL on 06:46 - Oct 16 with 4110 views | StevieH |
We lost to a very determined, organized team yesterday who dug in and got a result. Of course they tried to disrupt the flow of the game. I didn’t think they were that bad in terms of gamesmanship.
This sense of entitlement and unfairness when we don’t get a result due to our own shortcomings. ( poor defending and wasting chance after chance ) is pretty arrogant and not very attractive.
We’ve got the biggest budget, great support, some top players a talented manager and resources that most L1 clubs would love to have.
The idea that it’s not fair and that these smaller clubs don’t just step aside and let us have it all our own way is laughable.
I understand your frustration but it’s sport mate. Professional players will do what they need to do to get a result. We need to be better.
You would not have sent this letter if we’d scored 2 late goals and won the match. |  | | |
| Sent to EFL on 07:24 - Oct 16 with 4008 views | pennblue |
| Sent to EFL on 06:46 - Oct 16 by StevieH |
We lost to a very determined, organized team yesterday who dug in and got a result. Of course they tried to disrupt the flow of the game. I didn’t think they were that bad in terms of gamesmanship.
This sense of entitlement and unfairness when we don’t get a result due to our own shortcomings. ( poor defending and wasting chance after chance ) is pretty arrogant and not very attractive.
We’ve got the biggest budget, great support, some top players a talented manager and resources that most L1 clubs would love to have.
The idea that it’s not fair and that these smaller clubs don’t just step aside and let us have it all our own way is laughable.
I understand your frustration but it’s sport mate. Professional players will do what they need to do to get a result. We need to be better.
You would not have sent this letter if we’d scored 2 late goals and won the match. |
I have to disagree with you Stevie. I think the gamesmanship has got far worse than it has ever been before. I am not talking about Lincoln in particular, it is a general observation from all the home matches we have played this season. It seems common place now to disrupt the game in this way, and in my opinion, it never used to be anywhere near this bad.
I take your point that players will do what they need to get a result, but it is down to the officials to ensure an advantage cannot be sought by employing these tactics.
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| Sent to EFL on 07:34 - Oct 16 with 3945 views | homer_123 |
| Sent to EFL on 07:24 - Oct 16 by pennblue |
I have to disagree with you Stevie. I think the gamesmanship has got far worse than it has ever been before. I am not talking about Lincoln in particular, it is a general observation from all the home matches we have played this season. It seems common place now to disrupt the game in this way, and in my opinion, it never used to be anywhere near this bad.
I take your point that players will do what they need to get a result, but it is down to the officials to ensure an advantage cannot be sought by employing these tactics.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
It's always been this way...nothing new. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 07:52 - Oct 16 with 3873 views | PioneerBlue |
There are many things wrong with the game, this is one. Most of them are probably manageable under current laws, Referees are the problem in not using the tools at their disposal.
It is time look at using an orange card for a range of things and probably take time management away from the referee, give it to an independent time keeper and stop the clock whenever the ball is not in play, make this visible to fans, also make Referees and Line-o mikes audible to the crowd.
They allow persistent fouls
They allow persistent slow play without punishment
They allow persistent holding by both defenders and attackers at corners
They allow yards to be gained from most throw-ins
They don’t know how to use advantage in the offended teams advantage for free kicks
They allow offender teams to slow free kicks up by standing in front of the ball
They allow goal keepers up to 1 minute to take goal kicks from when the ball is in keepers hands
They allow teams to take drinks breaks at almost every foul
They allow players to hobble slowly right across the field before the game restarts from an injury
These were only a few that sprung to mind.
All irritating, all not new but they feel like they have become way more prevalent. | |
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| Sent to EFL on 08:19 - Oct 16 with 3750 views | gtsb1966 |
I don't see Plymouth complaining. Sending letters is embarrassing. It's up to us to beat teams, not the ref, not the away side laying down or time wasting, but us. We lost yesterday because we were poor in the first half and our finishing was way off. No excuses needed. |  | | |
| Sent to EFL on 08:30 - Oct 16 with 3680 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
I was amazed to see that they didn't do that thing of pretending to take a short goal kick before waving the defenders up the pitch which can eat minutes up during a whole match. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 08:43 - Oct 16 with 3605 views | franz_tyson |
| Sent to EFL on 06:46 - Oct 16 by StevieH |
We lost to a very determined, organized team yesterday who dug in and got a result. Of course they tried to disrupt the flow of the game. I didn’t think they were that bad in terms of gamesmanship.
This sense of entitlement and unfairness when we don’t get a result due to our own shortcomings. ( poor defending and wasting chance after chance ) is pretty arrogant and not very attractive.
We’ve got the biggest budget, great support, some top players a talented manager and resources that most L1 clubs would love to have.
The idea that it’s not fair and that these smaller clubs don’t just step aside and let us have it all our own way is laughable.
I understand your frustration but it’s sport mate. Professional players will do what they need to do to get a result. We need to be better.
You would not have sent this letter if we’d scored 2 late goals and won the match. |
Agreed. Why did the OP bring this up and complain to the EFL another week about time-wasting? Its not as if Lincoln were that bad compared to others. Simple- it's because we've lost.
Plenty of time to score 1,2, 3 or 4 goals but we weren't ruthless enough. Even time for our goalkeeper to come and punch a ballooned skyward ball away from his penalty area instead of watching it with his teammates.
We've got plenty of things going for us compared to other clubs. I wouldn't swap with any other club in this league. Just need to take it on the chin and learn and get better. And stop f@cking complaining- its pathetic. | | | |
| Sent to EFL on 08:50 - Oct 16 with 3543 views | Mullet |
We got 7 mins injury time. We had a bad day at the office and should have blown Lincoln away. The fact we didn't is on us. This reads like something the big six plastics write for social media. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 08:53 - Oct 16 with 3531 views | tractordownsouth |
We can have no complaints about Lincoln, you’re clutching at straws here I’m afraid. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 09:01 - Oct 16 with 3466 views | Darth_Koont |
I admire the idea but in practice everyone in the game accepts these as tactics. Including most fans when the boot is on the other foot. Whether the fans are keeping the ball or our goalkeeper suddenly starts dropping to the ground after the 70th minute when claiming a routine cross.
Anyway, I’d start by cleaning up the actual playing side first as the flow of games is disrupted through persistent fouling even more. For instance, it should be an immediate yellow card to grab another player’s shirt rather than “part of the game”. And given more often as a foul when defenders just push through attackers from behind to get to the ball – you’re either allowed to shield the ball or you’re not.
Such persistent and “accepted” rule breaches to disrupt attacking play aren’t tolerated in other sports to anything like the same degree. When we address football’s culture of rule breaking as a whole, then there’s a chance of tackling the greyer areas like time-wasting and disrupting the flow of games. |  |
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| Embarrassing. (n/t) on 09:07 - Oct 16 with 3427 views | Bloots |
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| "Great to see you back on here mate, I was considering deactivating my account if you hadn’t returned" - TWTD User (Aug 2025) |
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| Sent to EFL on 09:48 - Oct 16 with 3204 views | EdwardStone |
I disagree with sending a letter to EFL, but actually the main point of the letter is correct
Not just Lincoln, but virtually every match seems to have an unofficial "mini-break" halfway through both 45 minutes.
Most, but not all players run over to their respective technical areas to take on fluids and receive a few quick words from their manager.
The way that all the players from both teams are aware that this particular foul is the start of this unscheduled stop seems.... almost pre-arranged.
Is there a special signal between the teams to trigger the pause?
Is it initiated by one or both managers?
Or just done by keeping an eye on the clock?
However it is decided, it always takes a familiar path. A reasonably innocuous foul, player goes down and stays down. Trainer summoned onto the pich as almost all players head for a quick refreshment, apart from the one, now sitting up, who has his drinks bought to him.
That player makes a miraculous recovery as the other players fan out across the pitch and resume their stations....
And we restart from a free kick.
Every bloody half of every bloody game [Post edited 16 Oct 2022 10:13]
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| Sent to EFL on 10:48 - Oct 16 with 3043 views | johnolbe |
Imagine Ipswich in a similar situation away at a bigger higher ranked team and under the cosh for 45 minutes and hanging on for a 1-0 win. You would love your goalkeeper taking his time, players taking an age to take a throw in etc. It’s part of the game I’m afraid and sending a letter to the EFL well that just smacks of self entitlement Billy Big B*llocks and makes you look a right prat. As a fan we have all had the same tactics go against us, the best way of dealing with it is to score more than the opposition so it’s them doing the moaning, like you are now. | | | |
| Sent to EFL on 11:02 - Oct 16 with 2977 views | thepommylump |
| Sent to EFL on 09:48 - Oct 16 by EdwardStone |
I disagree with sending a letter to EFL, but actually the main point of the letter is correct
Not just Lincoln, but virtually every match seems to have an unofficial "mini-break" halfway through both 45 minutes.
Most, but not all players run over to their respective technical areas to take on fluids and receive a few quick words from their manager.
The way that all the players from both teams are aware that this particular foul is the start of this unscheduled stop seems.... almost pre-arranged.
Is there a special signal between the teams to trigger the pause?
Is it initiated by one or both managers?
Or just done by keeping an eye on the clock?
However it is decided, it always takes a familiar path. A reasonably innocuous foul, player goes down and stays down. Trainer summoned onto the pich as almost all players head for a quick refreshment, apart from the one, now sitting up, who has his drinks bought to him.
That player makes a miraculous recovery as the other players fan out across the pitch and resume their stations....
And we restart from a free kick.
Every bloody half of every bloody game [Post edited 16 Oct 2022 10:13]
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The thing that annoyed me was, after the drinks break and injury sorted, when the game was to restart, the goalkeeper wasn't ready, we then had to wait for him to get the ball, place it down, then take the goal kick.
He had 2 or 3 minutes to get the ball and place it down and be ready! | | | |
| Sent to EFL on 11:09 - Oct 16 with 2931 views | pennblue |
| Sent to EFL on 10:48 - Oct 16 by johnolbe |
Imagine Ipswich in a similar situation away at a bigger higher ranked team and under the cosh for 45 minutes and hanging on for a 1-0 win. You would love your goalkeeper taking his time, players taking an age to take a throw in etc. It’s part of the game I’m afraid and sending a letter to the EFL well that just smacks of self entitlement Billy Big B*llocks and makes you look a right prat. As a fan we have all had the same tactics go against us, the best way of dealing with it is to score more than the opposition so it’s them doing the moaning, like you are now. |
It is nothing to do with the size of the club, or perceived size. It is to do with the game being ruined by the ebb and flow being disrupted.
We do exactly the same, trying to kill the game off when taking the ball down to the corner flag, but none of it is really contributes towards the game.
Any activity on the pitch which is designed to waste time should be penalised, else teams will continue doing it. | |
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| Sent to EFL on 11:10 - Oct 16 with 2926 views | clive_baker |
This is Liverpool levels of saltiness.
We lost, it happens. We move on. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 11:15 - Oct 16 with 2907 views | pennblue |
| Sent to EFL on 08:19 - Oct 16 by gtsb1966 |
I don't see Plymouth complaining. Sending letters is embarrassing. It's up to us to beat teams, not the ref, not the away side laying down or time wasting, but us. We lost yesterday because we were poor in the first half and our finishing was way off. No excuses needed. |
Plymouth may well have learned this lesson last season that you need to smash the opposition in the 1st half, so you don't get into this situation.
But it was not an excuse, I agree we were poor 1st half and this led to us being in the situation we found ourselves in.
They still need to clamp down on time wasting though. | |
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| Sent to EFL on 11:26 - Oct 16 with 2843 views | J2BLUE |
Tinpot email.
Lincoln were well drilled and I thought they only did the usual away team time wasting. It wasn't anywhere near the level of previous opponents. They also attacked and on several occasions got the ball back in play very quickly.
They were simply better on the day. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 12:22 - Oct 16 with 2687 views | pointofblue |
| Sent to EFL on 11:26 - Oct 16 by J2BLUE |
Tinpot email.
Lincoln were well drilled and I thought they only did the usual away team time wasting. It wasn't anywhere near the level of previous opponents. They also attacked and on several occasions got the ball back in play very quickly.
They were simply better on the day. |
They we not better on the day - anything but. Agree with the rest of your post, though. | |
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| Sent to EFL on 13:44 - Oct 16 with 2564 views | johnolbe |
| Sent to EFL on 12:22 - Oct 16 by pointofblue |
They we not better on the day - anything but. Agree with the rest of your post, though. |
To be fair Ipswich played some fantastic flowing football but we played an excellent organised defensive game. We were better at that side of the game than you and it’s just as important in games like yesterday than being excellent in the attacking sense. I should say man for man over 90 minutes Lincoln won most of the personal duels so we could argue it was a fair result. There is a fair chance you may hammer us at our place though but you never know. | | | |
| Sent to EFL on 14:11 - Oct 16 with 2456 views | J2BLUE |
| Sent to EFL on 12:22 - Oct 16 by pointofblue |
They we not better on the day - anything but. Agree with the rest of your post, though. |
You know what I mean.
Defensively we could not break them. | |
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| Sent to EFL on 14:16 - Oct 16 with 2430 views | Dubtractor |
That's a bit embarrassing to be honest.
Sure, it is hugely annoying when teams set out to just waste time and kill momentum, and Lincoln were pretty bad for it, but it's up to us to be better than it and not let teams into positions to take that approach. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 14:28 - Oct 16 with 2379 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
There are some aspects where the rules are already in place but need to be implemented better - referees should be more aware of when there is time wasting and issue warnings and yellow cards a little more readily than they do at the moment at this level.
There are others where the rules should be adjusted. Instead of a referee automatically waving a player straight back on the pitch after one of these treatment breaks, perhaps the treated player should be assessed by the fourth official to check they are still ready to return. An assessment that could take a long time if the officials suspect it was a tactical interruption (of course there is a degree of subjective judgment there, but officials should be more savy to what is happening generally). If there is a genuine threat of this, teams will be far less ready to play this tactic. Another thing that rugby does is allow treatment on the pitch while the play continues around them. This could be combined with an obligation for the treated player to leave the pitch before they become active again (so neither allowed to touch the ball nor be considered for judging an offside etc).
Then there are those aspects that are a bit trickier. When it is the keeper doing the time wasting, they never leave the field of play and so the above cannot be applied. Maybe allowing the team that is not causing the stoppage to take instructions/fluids etc from the bench but not the team causing it could be applied here. Perhaps a requirement that all players on the side with the keeper causing the stoppage are 10 yards or more away from the technical areas during the stoppage?
There are a lot of things that the FA could manage better with the rules. The most positive impactful rule change I can recall is a long time ago now when they stopped keepers from picking up a back-pass. |  |
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| Sent to EFL on 18:14 - Oct 16 with 2144 views | pennblue |
| Sent to EFL on 14:28 - Oct 16 by Nthsuffolkblue |
There are some aspects where the rules are already in place but need to be implemented better - referees should be more aware of when there is time wasting and issue warnings and yellow cards a little more readily than they do at the moment at this level.
There are others where the rules should be adjusted. Instead of a referee automatically waving a player straight back on the pitch after one of these treatment breaks, perhaps the treated player should be assessed by the fourth official to check they are still ready to return. An assessment that could take a long time if the officials suspect it was a tactical interruption (of course there is a degree of subjective judgment there, but officials should be more savy to what is happening generally). If there is a genuine threat of this, teams will be far less ready to play this tactic. Another thing that rugby does is allow treatment on the pitch while the play continues around them. This could be combined with an obligation for the treated player to leave the pitch before they become active again (so neither allowed to touch the ball nor be considered for judging an offside etc).
Then there are those aspects that are a bit trickier. When it is the keeper doing the time wasting, they never leave the field of play and so the above cannot be applied. Maybe allowing the team that is not causing the stoppage to take instructions/fluids etc from the bench but not the team causing it could be applied here. Perhaps a requirement that all players on the side with the keeper causing the stoppage are 10 yards or more away from the technical areas during the stoppage?
There are a lot of things that the FA could manage better with the rules. The most positive impactful rule change I can recall is a long time ago now when they stopped keepers from picking up a back-pass. |
Some good suggestions,
"referees should be more aware of when there is time wasting" - for injury's this is pretty difficult for them to assess
I like the idea of letting play continue (unless head injury), definitely could be worth a trial. | |
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| Sent to EFL on 18:46 - Oct 16 with 2068 views | xrayspecs |
You do realise that Town also do this as well? | | | |
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