Copyright GIVEMESPORT
Keith Andrews and Brentford saw out a 3-2 win against the reigning champions of the Premier League, Liverpool, at the weekend. The side from the capital, in their successful attempt to beat Arne Slot's side, averaged 55.8 seconds per throw-ins – and football's lawmakers have now discussed cracking down on time-wasting. Dango Ouatarra and Kevin Schade scored in the 5th and 45th minute, respectively, before Milos Kerkez gave the visitors a slice of hope on the stroke of half-time. Igor Thiago's second-half penalty eased nerves before Mohamed Salah then bagged a consolation in the 95th minute. GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Arne Slot's Liverpool are the first team in Premier League history to win their opening five matches of a season and then lose their next four. Given the chasm in on-paper talent between the two sides, the Bees made full use of the new long-throw trend, all while taking their sweet time to deliver throws from the byline. All in all, Brentford took a total of nine minutes and 18 seconds to take their ten throw-ins against the Reds and future teams doing the same could be punished. Football's lawmakers – the International Football Association Board (IFAB) – have discussed placing a countdown on throw-ins to limit how long a player can spend on throw-ins in an attempt to prevent teams wasting time. New measures introduced this season now prevent goalkeepers from holding onto the ball for more than eight seconds – a countdown signalled by the referee with his fingers in the last five seconds. Should a keeper fail to release the ball in that allotted time period, a corner is now awarded to the opposing side. In terms of goalkeepers being penalised, Brentford's Caoimhin Kelleher gave away a corner deep in stoppage time of his side's 3-2 win over Liverpool. He held the ball for 13 seconds – but, luckily for him, the Reds were unable to pounce. The possibility of introducing similar punishments for those who hold onto the ball for too long at a throw-in was discussed on Tuesday at Ifab's virtual Football and Technical Advisory Panels (FAP-TAP). With Premier League teams reverting to old-fashioned tactics to steal a march on their opponents this season – including being dominant from set-pieces and hoofing the ball long to platform off their centre-forward – long throws have become commonplace for the majority of sides. The process of taking such a long throw involves lengthy preparations in the same vein as an attacking free-kick, and that ultimately leads to a dip in the amount of time the ball is actually in play. According to figures from Stats Perform via The Guardian, there were more than twice as many long throws in the opening weeks of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign – an average of 3.44 per match compared with 1.52 in 2024/25. That's resulted in a significant drop-off in play time, 133 seconds lower than last term. This new rule remains an area of debate for now, but it will be considered when the IFAB holds its annual business meeting in London in January. Elsewhere, FAP-TAP did support a change to how VAR works, which would allow referees to intervene if they adjudge a second yellow card has been awarded incorrectly.
