The last debate in Spanish football: “Referee, the time!”

Madrid

Updated:09/14/2021 00: 11h

Keep

Soccer has a new debate. The ten minutes of addition that he decreed Martinez Munuera at RCD Stadium not only allowed the Athletic take the three points with the latest winning goal in the history of the League (99 ‘), but also put on the table one of the ills that the Spanish competition hurts. According to statistics from choose, the League is the competition among the five big ones where there is less effective playing time: just 50 minutes. Ahead would be the Bundesliga (53), the Premier (54), Serie A (54) and Ligue 1 (55). In other words, the Spanish soccer spectator spends almost an entire part of a game looking at a stopped ball.

50’57” – @LaLiga ???????? is the competition of the five major European leagues where less effective playing time per game is used this season in the five major European leagues (50 ’57’ ‘per game). Equality#LaLigaSantanderpic.twitter.com/GNe6w08aqB

– OptaJose (@OptaJose) August 23, 2021

Aware of a problem that threatens to tie up the show, the arbitration team has been working for some time to reverse this situation. In this sense, sources from the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) consulted by ABC defend last Sunday’s decision. “The referees add what they touch,” they say, and recall that it is an issue that was addressed in the press conferences organized by the CTA. It was one of our debts. The referees fell short and the time lost by the VAR, a pause or whatever has to be returned, “they now explain. For this reason, they do not understand that Martínez Munuera’s decision is criticized, since they assure that it is the coaches themselves who begged to combat the loss of time by lengthening the duration of the matches.

For instance, Manuel Pellegrini, Real Betis, spoke about it after playing the second day against Cádiz. «La Liga is the slowest in Europe, where the least is played. The referees cannot allow it to take so long to serve from the goal or from the wings. We all have to try to give more rhythm for a show that people come to see. However, when the poster was shown on Sunday, Vicente Moreno, Espanyol coach, expressed his anger at Simeone. And with the final whistle, it was Raúl de Tomás who verbalized it: “I don’t know why he added so much or when all that time was lost.”

Even so, the numbers don’t lie, and chronometer in hand, the accounts give the reason to the referee team. During Espanyol-Atlético, 2 minutes were spent in the hydration break, 5:36 in the review of the annulled goal to Lemar, 1:07 in that of Carrasco’s goal and 3:37 in the medical assists to Felipe, Darder and Melamed. In total, 12:52 minutes. A calculation that, it should be said, is rarely fulfilled so strictly. «For more than a year we have been told that the time we added was a shame, that it was little. And now that we add what it touches, is it a problem? “, They complain from the CTA.

The picaresque of the League

Abel Resino, Former coach of several teams in the League, he believes that more and more additions such as RCD Stadium will be more common. «The picaresque has always existed, especially in Spain, where it is common for us to waste more time with simulations. I am convinced that this type of addition is here to stay. When a change comes to football it is usually to stay, and more if we are talking about a problem such as that in the Spanish league there is less played than in others. It would be necessary to study and analyze other competitions to see what they do and try to find the key to play more. In the meantime, the best way to compensate is by adding more time», Analyzes for ABC.

In his opinion, before the pandemic introduced the five changes, there was a “standard model”, something that, in his opinion, is now missing: “Three minutes was the most common, four when some time had been lost and five if there was a longer pause than normal. Now the ideal would be to unify the criterion with longer additions ”. On the other hand, Abel considers that improving the rhythm of the League is “everyone’s job”, although he defends that time losses “are also part of the game.” «They serve to break the rhythm of the rival, to rest or to stretch the timer. In Spain, much has been improved in this sense, but the picaresque continues to exist, which forces us to adjust the times. The referee has to realize when a player is deliberately wasting time and take it into account.

From the CTA they refuse to be “standard bearers of anything”, and insist that “the collegiate simply are in charge of applying the norm.” «Before, it was the field referee who measured the added time, but now they help him from the VAR. It is a matter of accounting, and they have it easier, which allows you to adjust the addition even more. Obviously, the final decision depends on the referees, but that there is more effective play is up to the players and coaches. Ah. and the League should also take note “, they maintain.

See them
comments