Is anyone bored of Arsene Wenger persistent moaning about officials making mistakes which conspire to prevent Arsenal winning games? I for one am not remotely bored. I think it is hilarious! As a Spurs fan, I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy his whingeing because it usually stems from an unsatisfactory result for Arsenal. But I also love to listen to Wenger complaining as a football fan in general, because quite often he’s completely wrong to be doing so.
The rules for the injury or stoppage time have been around for over a century. In 1891 in a match between Stoke and Aston Villa, Stoke were losing 1-0, but were awarded a late penalty. However, at this stage there were no laws about adding on additional time after the 90 minutes have elapsed. Unfortunately for Stoke the Villa keeper hoofed the ball out of the ground and by the time the ball was recovered, the 90 minutes was up and Villa had won the game 1. This blatant miscarriage of justice led to the development of the stoppage time rules. Injury time is nearly always added on nowadays and also if a penalty is awarded just before the half-time or full-time whistle, it is always allowed to be taken.
Unless you’ve been under a rock this weekend then you will have witnessed or at least heard about Darren Bent’s 95th minute equaliser for Sunderland, which secured them a useful point and prevented Arsenal going back to North London with all three. It was the timekeeping of the officials where Wenger focussed his post-match whinge; his gripe being that Bent’s goal came outside the four minutes of injury time that the referee Phil Dowd had added on.
Obviously, Wenger would have been frustrated with the lateness of the goal, but I cannot see any reason to complain about its legitimacy for any timekeeping reasons. Firstly, the referee is the timekeeper of the match and his decisions are final. Secondly, when the fourth official holds up his board with the number of additional minutes in the final minute of each half, the number shown is the minimum length of injury time to be added. Wenger claims that he understands that it was a minimum of four minutes, but states that during the four minutes he saw nothing which meant that play continued beyond the four minutes. Bent’s goal was timed at 94:14 mins by the BBC and at 94:11 mins by Sky Sports. So the match is supposed to have overrun by between 11-14 seconds.
But let us just have a think. If Dowd looked at his stopwatch near the end of the game to see how much time had been devoted to stoppages, who am I or anyone to know what it said on his watch? It could have said 4:30 minutes perhaps? Dowd would have then signalled to the fourth official to hold up the board with four minutes on. He should not have rounded it up to five minutes, because that would have been deemed excessive (especially by Wenger and co.). He could not have signalled five, intending to play just 4:30 mins, because the laws of the game state the additional time signalled can be increased but never reduced 2. Therefore, to add on the 4:30 mins that had been lost, he would have signalled 4 minutes, fully intending to add on the further 30 seconds that were appropriate.
Alternatively, the referee may have intended to add exactly 4 minutes at the start of the additional stoppage time. If this is the case it is down to the referee’s discretion whether to add on any additional time to stoppage time to compensate for time lost during stoppage time. Dowd obviously thought that there had been at least 11-14 seconds of extra stoppage time to add on and allowed play to continue. This is very believable considering that Sunderland ’s goal came after a corner and also during injury time Arsenal’s Denilson hit a shot wide of the post on the break. Both of these instances of the ball being out of play may have persuaded Phil Dowd to add on the extra time, which enabled the goal to be scored. In summary, the referee was within his rights to extend the game beyond 94 minutes. Arsenal only have themselves to blame for their lacklustre defensive clearances, their indiscipline leading to reduced defensive manpower and their inability to take the good chances (especially Tomas Rosicky’s penalty, which has probably just reached the moon), which would have ensured the three points.
Goals that are scored deep into stoppage time are often very crucial, and with the monetary rewards that are on offer in today’s game being so high will the powers that be intervene? Wenger is not the first manager to complain about timekeeping and I would be curious to see whether FIFA consider any new methods to place tighter controls on stoppage time. Although judging by the way they have dodged the issue of goal-line technology for aeons, I would be surprised if any intervention was made in the near future…we shall see.
Wenger was seen to confront the fourth official Martin Atkinson after Sunderland ’s equaliser and has subsequently been charged by the FA for the incident. With a possible touchline ban and fine (albeit an insignificantly small fine, which in itself poses no deterrent) in the offing for Wenger, maybe the Frenchman will think twice before intimidating officials. I for one hope he does not change his ways, I find his outbursts hilarious. I’ll only say this once, but…long live Arsene Wenger!
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One other mention I would like to make is for the Spurs legend Bobby Smith who passed away on Saturday evening. Smith scored 33 goals in the double-winning side of 1961, in addition to a brilliant scoring record of 208 goals in 317 appearances for Spurs. An extended and fitting obituary can be found on the Spurs website. My thoughts are with his family and friends.
R.I.P Bobby Smith.
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Bibliography
1. The Sunday Times Illustrated History Of Football (1996). p.11
2. “Laws of the game” FIFA. Retrieved 20.09.10.
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame_2010_11_e.pdf.
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