Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has warned that any proposals to introduce blue cards or sin bins would destroy football.
Plans were announced on Thursday for the trial to begin shortly, with blue cards issued for challenges and professional fouls, and offenders sent to the crime bin for 10 minutes.
FIFA has since made it clear that there will be no trials in elite football, but the International Football Association Board, the world’s lawmaker, will not announce plans for a sin bin trial until next month.
But Postecoglou clearly believed that was the wrong move. “If a team goes down to 10 men for 10 minutes, you know what that would do to our game? It would be devastating,” Postecoglou said.
“Some teams are going to just sit there and try to waste 10 minutes waiting for a player to come in. Every other sport is trying to stay organized. All I’m trying to do is go on a different path for some weird reason.”
Postecoglou spoke at length about the laws of the game ahead of Saturday’s visit to Brighton. The Spurs manager defended goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who conceded from a corner in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Everton.
Vicario was under pressure from Jack Harrison and failed to deal with Dwight McNeil’s pass into his own six-yard area, as he did in last month’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.
On that occasion, Ruben Dias swarmed around Vicario from Kevin De Bruyne’s corner kick, which the Tottenham goalkeeper flicked away for Nathan Ake to score. Spurs wrote to Professional Game Match Officials Limited this week, asking for an explanation as to why both goals were not infringing.
“I have sent some documents to get clarification,” Postecoglou said. “I’m going to be called out for this, but it was very clear in this game that goalkeepers are protected animals. I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks that.
“People were saying that because if you actually interfered with the goalkeeper’s attack in any way inside the six-yard box, you would get a foul. I knew that as a player and as a manager.
“I think there has been a change there, but now it’s a stumbling block for me. If you stand in front of the goalkeeper and stop him before the ball arrives, it’s interference in layman’s terms.
“What’s going to happen to the goalie? Well, it’s quite possible that you can crowd the goalie close together, put the ball on top of him, wait for the scramble to finish and see what happens. It has spread.
“I was really proud of Vic the other day. I think they had nine corners after we conceded, but he came out on almost every other corner and really cracked it. I think he handled it. I can’t praise him enough for the way he handled it.
“And when people say, ‘You have to be stronger,’ what does that mean? If he pushes a player or something, with VAR you don’t have a chance. You There will be a penalty against you.”
Tottenham have captain Son Heung-min back for the visit to Brighton, with Postecoglou hoping his presence will help boost their unlikely title bid.
Opta analysts claimed this week that Spurs have a 0.1% chance of winning the Premier League this season.
“What did it say about 0.1 percent? So we [have] Then I had a chance. Well, let’s go with that. No problem, no problem about that. We have a chance,” Coach Postecoglou said.
