I thought it would be nice to take a pause from the ongoing Bradley Barcola saga and step away from the bad taste of the new investor reality and take a quick look into any rule changes facing the Premier League.
All of the rule changes being adapted were rolled out for the 2026 World Cup Tournament and the focus is very much on preventing time wasting and the footballing dark arts of breaking the rhythm of a match. There is also the hopeful stopping of set piece wrestling, something this writer definitely wants to see less of but Arsenal probably don’t.
Goal-kicks and Throw-ins
Referees will now blow the whistle if they deem players are intentionally attempting to disrupt the flow of play by doing things like pretending to take the throw then dropping the ball for another teammate to pick up and take. The whistle will indicate a countdown from five is beginning and the ref will raise his arm to show each second passing. If the player fails to take the throw-in before the countdown finishes then the opposition will be given the throw-in.
The exception will be long throw-ins as they are considered set-piece plays but the ref can still initiate the five second countdown once all the players are set.
With goal-kicks the keeper will be penalized for taking too long (there doesn’t appear to be a set time for this unlike the throw-ins) and that would result in a corner being given to the opposition team.
Substitutions
This is a simple one as any substituted player is allowed ten seconds to leave the pitch and if they fail to then the player coming on has to delay entering play for one minute. This obviously means that team must play with only ten men during the one minute penalty. It also should be noted that the one minute will extend if the ball doesn’t go out of play and so could prove costly if the opposition keep possession and even possibly score while with the one man advantage.
Exceptions are possible if the player is injured or if for safety reasons the officials have concerns over where the substituted player can leave the pitch, due to rival fan hostility I suppose.
Injured players
Players now must leave the pitch and remain out of the game for one minute if they have caused the ref to stop the game regardless if they request treatment or not. I like this one as it will hopefully stop players from sitting on the turf for the purpose of disrupting the game’s flow.
There are some exceptions like if the ball naturally goes out of play after the player goes down and also if the player who committed the foul receives a yellow or red card then the injured player does not have to stay off the pitch. I can actually see this rule having some errors or causing some frustrations to flare up during a match but like with all rules there needs to be consistency, which isn’t something that usually happens with Premier League officiating.
Goalkeeper tactical turf sitting
I like this one too but can see some teams going crazy over it during a match. It is an attempt to stop goalkeepers being instructed to sit down (pre-game tactical instructions) and signal for the physio to come onto the pitch because it usually leads to the other players going to the technical area for further tactical tweaks. Once those tweaks have been passed on the keeper would stand up and be ready to play on so the new rule means if a keeper does sit down and signal for treatment the team’s coach has ten seconds to chose a player to come off the pitch for one minute. If the coach fails to inform the fourth official within that ten seconds the team’s captain has to be the player to exit the pitch.
The exceptions to this rule are if the goalkeeper has been fouled or is bleeding.
Goal-kicks
Over the last few seasons a common tactic with goal-kicks is that a defender or two will be inside the penalty area to receive the ball. The reason for the new rule is that sometimes there is confusion over whether the pass from the keeper to a defender within the penalty area is the goal-kick because there have been situations where the receiving defender handles the ball if under pressure from the opposition, as if to say he is the one taking the kick and play therefore hasn’t started.
To clear up any confusion the ref will now blow the whistle once the ball is first kicked to indicate play has resumed. If the receiving player tries to touch the ball now (inside the area) it’s a penalty obviously.
VAR
A new rule which this writer likes is that VAR can now review for fouls committed while players ready themselves for a set-piece. It became more like wrestling last season, especially at corners and long throw-ins and was used to great effect by one or two clubs in particular. So, now if any fouls occur prior to the set-piece being taken and it leads to a goal, penalty or disciplinary action, the ref will have the set-piece taken again. The reason being that the VAR reviewed foul, prior to the set-piece, took place before the ball was in play so no other action can be taken. I have to say this has the feeling of getting messy, for example the reviewed incident could be bad enough for a card like say a deliberate elbow to a players face and so I’m not sure what would happen but it appears that regardless the set-piece would still be retaken.
Thankfully two VAR rules will not be adopted by the Premier League and they are red cards for players covering their mouths during any volatile situation and overturning an incorrectly given corner. The covering the mouth one takes me back to when Messi attempted to get a Spanish player sent off during the 26 World Cup final when all the player was saying is that one of his teammates needed treatment.
Closing thoughts
Firstly it is great to know the matches will continue to be a game of two halves rather than four quarters because let’s be honest, as hot as it was for some matches at the 26 World Cup it was really about opening up another way to make money. Those commercial slots brought in a lot more money for certain people and we really don’t need any more of that.
Secondly, those hydration breaks also broke the rhythm and led to coaches being able to easily make in-game tactical changes which took a lot away from the challenge of pre-game tactical nuances
With Liverpool’s new head coach Andoni Iraola’s high intensity approach I would expect him to welcome the approach by the FA to try and keep the games flowing and as for the set-piece rules I can see certain coaches squirming in their seat a little uncomfortably as they read them. This writer may be clutching at straws a little but I’ll take any little piece of encouragement to feel even better about the rapidly approaching 26/27 season and the hopes for a successful Liverpool campaign.