The rule changes nobody explained to coaches

This new season brings about some tweaks to the rulebook designed to reduce unnecessary stoppages, delays, behaviour and ultimately improve our game

The question is, will it improve our game? Or just give us more to complain about and create more loopholes that teams look to exploit?

I have read a lot of coverage of the new rules over the last few weeks and almost all of it was written for supporters. Which is fair enough, since they are the biggest audience. 

But, let's dive into each rule and analyse its importance in the context of the game whilst also understanding the impact it could have on how the game is played.

And it could have quite a big impact as it turns out… (I nearly felt the full effects of these rule changes in my game at the weekend).

Here is the full list so the rest of the newsletter is easier to follow:

Five-second restarts - Essentially, this one has been brought in to help mitigate time-wasting and delaying tactics. If the referee deems that a player or players are wasting time following the ball going out of play for a Throw-in or a Goal-kick, they can start a 5 second countdown timer. If play has not restarted at the end of these five seconds, the ball is turned over to the opponent through a throw-in (if the ball went out for a throw) or a corner (if the ball went out for a Goal-kick)

Ten seconds to leave the pitch - This one is interesting and nearly caught us out at the weekend. If a substituted player dawdles, the replacement waits until the first stoppage after a minute has passed. So your slow walk off now costs your own team. My player at the weekend made it off with 1 sec to spare. Talk about fine margins.

One minute off after treatment - This isn’t a new rule but rather an extension of a previous rule. If a player gets treated on the pitch, that player must leave the pitch for 1 minute after the treatment has finished. This is up from 30 seconds previously. This is to avoid players needlessly going down for issues not worthy of treatment but rather to kill the clock. Now they will think twice before doing this as it means their team is down a player for longer.

VAR on second yellows - This allows VAR to review a possible second yellow card. Only for a second yellow that has been given, not one the referee missed. Of course this won’t apply to the large majority of us who aren’t (yet) in the elite game.

The goalkeeper trial. This one could be interesting. If play stops for a keeper injury, the coach has to nominate an outfield player to go off for a minute. There are sensible exceptions of course for bleeding, collisions and fouls on the keeper. Again with the aim of preventing keepers from getting needless treatment.

The theme is obvious here. Football has spent years hunting dead time. We all want a quicker game with the ball in play more often. However, if we are honest, this ‘dead time’ is also where a lot of coaching can happen…

The five-second goal kick rule particularly is the one that could have a huge impact on the game.

Firstly, the parameters of when a referee feels like a player is wasting time, is completely subjective. To the point where one team in a different game could get greater lenience than another. There is also a big case that the game-state matters when this rule is actually properly enforced. Naturally, you will see this rule more often in the final stages of a match rather than the early stages and is also going to be entirely dependent on the scoreline. But a team can surely still ‘waste time’ in the first half, right? So how much strictness will actually be applied in these different moments?

But now let’s think about the game itself.

Think about what that pause was actually doing.

Your keeper stands over the ball. The opposition front two look at each other. One of them might step, the other might hesitate. Your six might drop between the centre-halves. Your full-backs might push up. See where I’m going with this?

There was always a reason behind the pause. It almost acts as a signal of preparedness of the players based on their specific build up principles and tactics. But now with this new rule, players will need to take their positions and ‘prepare’ much quicker, meaning the GK might be forced to take it quicker under this new rule and could lead to a less organised build up phase. But, could on the other hand promote greater creativity in decision making, allowing for more instinctive patterns if players are not truly ‘set’ and ‘structured’. 

Here’s an example of the subjectivity involved and why players will need to be more intelligent here: Your keeper standing over the ball waiting for their nine to commit is either ‘good coaching’ or time-wasting depending entirely on what the referee allows.

So your build-up now could carry a risk. Not a huge one. But any pattern that leans on a long, deliberate hold is now a pattern you are risking being penalised and the punishment is a corner against you in your own third.

What could your team do to combat this?

Your keeper needs to look like he is organising rather than waiting. Scanning, adjusting, pointing, moving his feet. The referee needs to be given enough of a reason to think that it is tactical organisation rather than time-wasting.

And you need a second option that doesn't need the pause at all, for the day you get a referee with a short fuse.

Alongside the law changes, referees have been told to sharpen up on two things. 

Holding at set pieces, specifically defenders who are clearly watching the man rather than the ball. 

And attackers who make contact with goalkeepers without any real attempt to play it.

Set pieces climbed to roughly a quarter of all goals last season and a third once you include penalties. Every club with a budget it seems went and hired a set-piece coach. Long throws came back from the dead and the whole league found its edge in dead-ball situations.

The response to this is a crackdown on exactly the mechanics that make those routines work.

Blocking runs. Screens on the keeper. The little grapple at the near post. If you have spent your pre-season drilling a corner routine built on obstruction, there is a decent chance it gets penalised. But again this is completely at the discretion of the referee, which is why there was a massive talking point last season about consistency when officiating these set-piece situations. Some fouls were given and some were not. 

So here is a little prediction. Set-piece goals will dip early in the season, but then the smart clubs with elite Set-piece coaches (Chelsea - Austin McPhee, Arsenal - Nicolas Jover) adapt within about six weeks by building routines around movement and timing instead of contact. The ones who don't adapt will spend the winter wondering why the thing that worked in May has stopped working.

The Premier League's own survey found that 73% of people think goalkeeper time-wasting is a problem and 85% think tactical time-outs are. So the mood behind all of this is not really in dispute. Lots of people are calling for enforcement on delaying tactics.

I’m going to push back against this anyway and play devil’s advocate (just to spark some debate ;)

Game management is a skill. Slowing a game down when you are hanging on, taking the sting out of a spell, buying your back line thirty seconds to breathe and reset. Mourinho was a master of it and knew all the little loopholes. We seem to call it cynical when a big club does it and clever when a small one does. But it is coaching and it is one of the few tools available to a side that is outmatched on quality. So managers will certainly need to be smarter when trying to see out a result. 

But anyway, that’s the results business. If results don’t particularly matter it gives a perfect opportunity for your players to naturally adjust to the game's rules under no pressure and it becomes a great learning and teaching opportunity for coaches.

So, honest question, and hit reply because I read every one:

Is this the end of time-wasting and do you already have any loopholes?

Time your goal kicks. Actually time them, with a stopwatch, in a session. Most coaches I know would be surprised how long their restart really takes. You are not trying to hit five seconds every time, you are trying to know how far past it you normally drift.

Name a default. One ‘first option’ pass your keeper goes to when nothing is on. Nobody should be solving the problem from scratch under a clock.

Beware of the walk-off. In the heat of the moment a player can easily forget to get off the pitch quickly after being subbed. And the ref may not make you aware that he is counting until the last moment. Practice substitutions like you practice anything else.

One last thing. The keeper trial is professional game only, so it probably won't touch your game. But it’s also best to check with the referee before the game kicks off. The 5 and 10 second rules come from IFAB, so they should filter down and be worldwide, but check with your county FA or other footballing organisation, rather than taking my word for how your league is applying the new rules.

This was a cool write up to do. Hit reply and tell me what you want to hear about next…

Until next time,

Lucas

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