Gary Neville has proposed the introduction of mid-game substitutions in a bid to ease the number of stoppages after Jamie Carragher unleashed a foul-mouthed rant during The Overlap. Carragher has strongly opposed players kicking the ball off the pitch after opponents go down injured, with Roy Keane and Ian Wright in agreement.
In response to Neville asking what the trio would change about football to make it better forever, Carragher took the opportunity to blast the trend, which is unpopular among fans.
The Liverpool icon claimed that opposition players kicking the ball out of play so opponents can receive treatment “f***ing p***es him off” and “f***ing winds him up.”
After Neville countered the point by insisting it wouldn’t improve the game forever, Carragher doubled down.
“It’d make it much better. The game’s stopping all the time. People are just bluffing injuries [when] there’s nothing wrong with them,” Carragher explained.
“[It] stops the game. There’s this thing where we’re like, ‘Oh, we really feel for our mate on the opposition team, he’s down holding his ankle.’ Just get on with the f***ing game.”
Neville responded by tabling his radical substitution idea, which would involve the game not stopping for player switches.
He said: “I’m going to change that idea. Let the fourth official manage substitutions so that the game doesn’t have to stop, and you can just run on and off.
“So basically, Odegaard’s coming on for Trossard, the fourth official’s there, he gets a message to Trossard, ‘you’re off’ and Trossard comes off.”
Wright fairly asked how that message would be sent to the player on the pitch, to which Neville added: “He could put the board up while the game’s going on.”
Carragher didn’t take the suggestion too seriously, joking: “You wouldn’t look at the bench, would you?!”
Arsenal’s determined second-half display at Manchester City on Sunday brought the time-wasting debate back under the spotlight.
Gunners goalkeeper David Raya set two new season records as the 10-man visitors clung to their 2-1 lead until the death when John Stones rescued a point.
Raya took an average of 45.3 seconds per goal kick and spent a staggering nine minutes and four seconds with his 12 goal kicks throughout the game.
City’s supporters and players grew enraged by the tactics, sparking intense scenes after full-time and fresh questions about how the Premier League can maximise the time the ball is on the pitch.
But while Neville’s substitution suggestion may have potential, it’s unlikely to be imposed any time soon.
