While there have been no shortage of questionable aspects of this World Cup, one of the more welcome changes made in Qatar has been the alterations to the way added time has been used.
Referees have been very strict in tacking on lost time at the end of the game, resulting in some games have ten minutes or more of additional play. It was a strange at first, although both players and spectators have quickly become used to the new system.
It is all part of a push from Pierluigi Collina, who is now the chairman of FIFA's referees committee. The Italian believes it is a necessary measure to stamp out time wasting, an assessment that it is difficult to argue with.
Time wasting has become an increasing problem in the game in recent times, although it usually went unpunished. The majority of fans have welcomed the recent changes, although it seems that we could be waiting a while before it becomes the norm at all levels.
Gary Neville questions Premier League approach to added time
The Premier League has had plenty of issues of their own with time wasting recently, although they do not look likely to follow FIFA's protocols used at the World Cup.
The Daily Mail recently reported that they would not change their own added time system to replicate what we are seeing at international level. Gary Neville believes that is a mistake.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the pundit said that the Premier League's refusal to follow FIFA's example was 'arrogant', comparing it to how they approached the use of VAR.
It drives us crazy sometimes that we only get three or four minutes. It's almost like there is a cap that they can't go above four minutes, even if there is stoppages and substitutions.
With the Premier League, did I see they said that they wouldn't adopt the FIFA policy of added time? I thought 'that's a little bit arrogant'.
It's like what we did with VAR. They had been experimenting with it for many tournaments, and all of a sudden we thought we could do it a different way. I like the idea of playing the full time...
It means that you can't time waste. You think about it, the amount of time wasting we have seen from teams over the years, running the clock down, walking to this and that.
[He did it] hundreds of times. If we're 1-0 up and I'm walking to a throw-in, I'm not taking it for at least ten or 15 seconds. It's the oldest trick in the book.
They are bygone tactics and we've got to move away from that.
VAR had been used at the 2018 World Cup prior to its introduction to the Premier League. However, the English top flight opted to alter some aspects of its use, including all but eliminating the option for referee's to review incidents on pitch-side monitors. It was a bit of a disaster and they were eventually forced to make further changes.
FIFA have gotten countless things wrong in recent times, but this move seems like one that has been almost universally welcomed. It would be bizarre to see domestic leagues not go down a similar route.
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