Time’s up for time-wasters

THERE have been several attempts to go back through the additional period of play at Anfield last Wednesday. Some concluded Liverpool were right to be given eight minutes to score their winning goal when only six were initially signalled. Others think Newcastle were hard done by. However, the wider point is this. If teams are so intent on wasting time in a bid to get a result, then they are not deserving of any sympathy if they occasionally come out the wrong side of a tight call.

At Anfield, Andre Marriner made it clear he was not being duped by the antics of Eddie Howe’s team during the added period and other officials need to be brave enough to follow his lead. Rather than being seen as a night of controversy, we should hope Fabio Carvalho’s goal is one day recognised as a watershed moment. Interestingly, West Bromwich’s equaliser against Burnley two days later arrived in the 98th minute. Coincidence? I hope not.

AT LEEDS, the problem with Dan James was that nobody knew his best position.

Is he an out-and-out winger? Or a wing back? Jesse Marsch could not decide. Whatever the case, sending the Wales international out on loan to Premier League rivals Fulham, when Leeds are so often short of attacking numbers, seems a strange decision indeed.

THE cost-of-living crisis is not of football’s making and not the game’s problem, save for a steep hike in the price of using floodlights. But football should not consider itself immune from the problems of the wider world and, with that in mind, Chelsea flying new signing Wesley Fofana to New York for a medical that he could easily have had in London was a very bad look.

LEICESTER have been playing the same trick for years. Spot them, buy them cheap and then, after a season or two, sell them on and replace them. It’s been fantastic to watch but the problem is that it’s a difficult trick to pull off. The only surprise now it’s stopped working is that there are some people who believe it’s Brendan Rodgers’ fault.