Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has warned any proposal to introduce blue cards and sin bins will destroy football.
It was revealed on Thursday that a trial could commence soon where a blue card would be shown for dissent and professional fouls where the offenders would be sin binned for 10 minutes.
FIFA has since clarified the trial will not occur in elite football, while football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board, will not publish plans for the sin bin trial until next month.
However, Postecoglou was unequivocal in his belief it would be a wrong move.
“One team being down to 10 men for 10 minutes, you know what it’s going to do to our game? It’s going to destroy it, mate,” Postecoglou insisted.
“You’re going to have one team just sitting there trying to waste time for 10 minutes waiting for a guy to come on.
“Every other sport is trying to declutter. All we’re trying to do is go the other way for some bizarre reason.”
Postecoglou talked at length about the laws of the game ahead of Saturday’s visit of Brighton.
The Spurs boss defended goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who conceded from another corner during last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Everton.
Vicario failed to deal with Dwight McNeil’s delivery into his six-yard area while under pressure from Jack Harrison, which was also the case in the 1-0 loss to Manchester City last month.
Guglielmo Vicario has been defended by his manager (John Walton/PA)
Ruben Dias crowded round Vicario on that occasion from a Kevin De Bruyne corner and the Tottenham goalkeeper’s flap resulted in Nathan Ake scoring.
Spurs have written to Professional Game Match Officials Limited this week to get clarification over why both goals have not fallen under the bracket of encroachment.
“We have sent some stuff to get some clarification,” Postecoglou revealed.
“I’m going to get called out for this, but there was a thing that was quite evident in the game that the goalkeeper was a protected species. I don’t think that’s just me making that up.
“The reason people used to say that was that if you really impeded a goalkeeper in any way in the six-yard box, you are going to get a foul. I knew that as a player, I knew that as a manager.
“I think there’s been a shift there where now to me, it’s obstruction.
Son Heung-min is back for Tottenham (John Walton/PA)
“If you’re standing in front of a goalkeeper stopping him before a ball has even arrived, in layman’s terms that’s obstruction.
“With the goalkeepers, what’s that going to do now? Well, it’s pretty much opened it up that you can surround the goalkeeper and crowd him and put balls on top of him and just wait for the scramble to finish and see what happens.
“I was really proud of Vic the other day. I think they had nine corners after we conceded and I think he dealt with just about every other one by coming out and actually having a crack at it
“I can’t praise him highly enough over the way he handled it.
🎙️ “It’s great to have him back. He wanted to train straight away and be available — that’s why he’s the person he is.”
Ange on @Sonny7 🤍
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 9, 2024
“And the whole thing where people say, ‘you’ve got to be stronger’, well, what does that mean?
“If he pushes or does anything to a player, with VAR, you’ve got no chance. You’re going to get a penalty against you.”
Tottenham have captain Son Heung-min back for the visit of Brighton and Postecoglou will hope his presence can boost their unlikely title bid.
Opta Analyst this week claimed Spurs have a 0.1 per cent chance of winning the Premier League this season.
“What did it say, 0.1 per cent? So we (have) got a chance then. Let’s go for it. No problems, no issues with that. We’ve got a chance,” Postecoglou smiled.
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