YOU ARE A WASTE OF TIME, REFEREE!
Dier in rage after goalkeeper’s stalling tactics go unpunished
Lost points haunted tottenham, but lost seconds were still eating away too as their players made for the Wembley exit after another draw.
Eric Dier found it impossible to hide his frustration on the pitch from the moment Ben Foster stole the ball from a ball boy to delay a spurs corner in the first half.
Dier was also stunned at an explanation from referee Mike Jones who, he said, confessed to being reluctant to penalise the West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper for holding the ball for longer than the permitted six seconds.
‘He said he doesn’t want to be the referee who blows the whistle for someone holding the ball for longer than six seconds because no- one does,’ said the spurs and England defender.
‘But if someone doesn’t do it then the goalkeeper is going to end up holding the ball for 30 seconds, 45 seconds. sometimes it was a lot longer than 20 seconds, for sure. I guarantee you.
‘Watch the game again and just add up, from the first minute, the amount of time that was wasted by their goalkeeper. I think you would find a big number.’
Foster was booked for time-wasting in the 82nd minute and Dier said: ‘It’s confusing that you would wait until the 80th minute to penalise it when it’s been happening from the first minute. It doesn’t make sense. It’s something I really don’t understand.
‘It’s up to the ref to stop it early doors with warnings, yellow cards. It makes no sense to wait until the 80th minute. By then it’s too late.’
Having conceded four at White Hart Lane last season, Foster had no trouble laughing off the accusations, first with a show of exaggerated innocence and then an admission accompanied by a mischievous smile.
‘Well, maybe a little bit,’ said the West Brom goalkeeper when asked whether he had been wasting time. His team had a lead to protect from the fourth minute when Jake Livermore dispossessed Dele Alli and released salomon Rondon, who held off Davinson sanchez and beat Hugo Lloris.
the visitors led for more than 70 minutes before Harry Kane equalised from a cross by Alli and, as spurs chased a winner, they were fortunate not to lose when Rondon missed a late chance.
‘Drawing is never positive, especially at home,’ said Dier, conscious of the indifferent results mingling with stylish wins over Liverpool and Real Madrid. Nine points dropped from seven Premier League home games is expensive, especially when compared to only four dropped at the Lane in the whole of last season.
‘Last year at White Hart Lane, we literally could not get the ball out of our own half,’ said Foster. ‘As soon as we had the ball they were on us and shutting us down.
‘I don’t know if that’s a Wembley thing but there’s a bigger pitch and that helps the other teams.
‘You could sense it with the crowd. If they didn’t get the ball forward quickly you could feel that they were getting on their backs a little bit and that played into our hands.’
spurs goalkeeper Lloris stirred Champions League football in with the reasons for these costly inconsistencies and challenged his team-mates to find a solution to breaking down teams who sit deep and defend well.
tottenham had 73 per cent of the ball against West Brom and 25 shots — yet they could easily have lost. ‘A lot of things are different,’ said Lloris. ‘the context, the stadium, even the crowd. It’s a new place and we have to deal with it. It is completely different to last season at White Hart Lane.
‘It’s not the same context but we need to deal with that and not find fake excuses because we are professional and must try to improve and be more consistent.
‘the solution belongs to us. We are protagonists and we need to put the right energy in the performance.’ stoke and Brighton are the next visitors to Wembley in the Premier League but first spurs go to Leicester tomorrow.
‘It is about intensity and energy,’ said Lloris. ‘It’s good to have the quality to pass and move, but you need to go and pin a player and be more aggressive in the box. that’s what we need a little bit against teams who sit deep.
‘You need to have the capacity and the ability to create spaces and to go and pin them in the box and try to get free-kicks or penalties. You need to put
more pressure on than we did against West Brom in front of the goal.’
SUPER STAT: Kane has found the net in four of his six PL games against West Brom, scoring seven. He has only scored more top-flight goals (eight) against one team — Leicester.
TOTTENHAM (3-5-2): Lloris 6.5; Dier 6.5, Sanchez 6, Vertonghen 6 (Llorente 60min, 5); Trippier 6, Eriksen 6, Winks 6 (Dembele 60, 6), Alli 6, Davies 6; Son 6.5, Kane 7. Subs not used: Vorm, Sissoko, Foyth, Aurier, Walker-Peters. Scorer: Kane 74. Booked: Dier. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 6. WEST BROMWICH ALBION (3-5-2): Foster 6.5; Nyom 6.5, Hegazi 7, EVANS 7.5; Phillips 6.5, Livermore 7, Barry 6.5 (Yacob 79), Field 6 (McClean 67, 6), Gibbs 6; Rodriguez 6 (Robson-Kanu 67, 6), Rondon 7. Subs not used: Myhill, Burke, Krychowiak, McAuley. Scorer: Rondon 4. Booked: Barry, Gibbs, Nyom, Foster. Manager: Gary Megson 7. Referee: Mike Jones 6. Attendance: 65,905.