Aston Villa captain, John McGinn has admitted that he isn’t a fan of the lengthy added time we are seeing in the Premier League.
In Villa’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, there was a combined additional 16 minutes at the end of each half.
With four minutes added on in the first half, despite no clear reasoning, this is accepted as it isn’t too long to add on.
The second half saw an additional 14 minutes put up by the fourth official. This was much to the surprise of the fans around Molineux.
Why was there so much added time?
It is hard to truly know why there was so much time put up to play at the end of the game.
There were moments when Nicolo Zaniolo, Hwang Hee-Chan, and Rayan Ait-Nouri went down with injuries.
There were also six stoppages for substitutions, two for bookings, and two for goals, which all played a part.
With all these different stoppages there are reasons for time to be added but 14 minutes seemed rather excessive.
What has John McGinn said?
The Villa captain wasn’t one for holding back after the match when asked about the additional time.
Players have taken issue with the fact they are often playing over 100 minutes of football per game.
The rules this season have been mirrored from the Qatar World Cup where this sort of timekeeping was first used.
On this, McGinn said: “It’s a bit ridiculous, to be honest. Supporters want to come and see 90 minutes of fast ferocious football but, with 16 minutes added, I think it is impossible.
“I think 16 minutes is a bit extravagant.”
Another rule that was imposed this season is that players must spend 30 seconds off the pitch after receiving treatment.
This wasn’t agreed with by McGinn: “The 30 seconds at the side is also something we need to address. I suppose it is the rules and we just need to get on with it.”
The new rules will take some getting used to, but it feels like they are here to stay.
