Goalkeepers ‘Running the clock down’!

Did you see the Final yesterday …. Sky were timing the Arsenal keeper , just stood in the box rolling the ball under his foot ….up to 30 seconds at a time . Lincoln’s keeper was copying it against Stockport and he thought it was hilarious . And yet nobody acts … Cheats don’t always prosper in Arsenals case . We digress but seeing as you mentioned it

 

But that’s not against the laws of football and it’s not cheating. If the ball is on the ground it’s available for the opposition to challenge for, so it’s up to them to pressurise/try to tackle him; more fool them if they just stand off and let him get away with it. If they close him down and he then picks it up, the 8 second rule starts to apply.

 

It IS cheating ….Its deliberately wasting time . They went behind and he stopped doing it, what other evidence is required ? Whilst it’s “ within the law” then they are circumnavigating the laws of the game .
Keepers going down at 15 min intervals to give players a drink and coaches to reset formations , pretend injuries and subbing players without them having to stand on the sideline for 30 seconds . It’s a long list of timewasting tactics that has slowed the game down to a crawl ! So cheating the fans , but all within the “ rules”?

 

The ball is in play so it’s not cheating, but tactical to draw the attacker in, which opens a space for the defender to receive the ball. It’s been going on for decades. No different to the games in the past when the keeper was able to pick up the ball, but waited until the very last second to do so when the attacker was almost upon him.

 

Any player, including the goalkeeper, is at liberty to keep the ball to themselves on the ground for as long as they like if they are not challenged and if they think it’s in their team’s best interests to do so. It’s no different from a team deliberately passing the ball around in their own half to keep possession and run down the clock, with no attempt to attack. It’s legitimate tactics - ie game management. The onus is on the other team to force them to move the ball differently by challenging them. There’s no circumnavigating the laws of the game here. Nothing in the laws says a team must have attacking intent. Going down with fake injuries is completely different - that’s cheating.

What I do think is really unfair is teams holding the ball by the corner flag to run down time, with three or four players around it, thus making it next to impossible for the defending team to get to the ball legitimately.

 

There is no difference if in a corner or a keeper rolling the ball under his foot for 30 secs . Zero difference . Both wasting time , both “ cheating” the rules . In fact the keepers are a protected species and anyone blowing on them gets a foul given against , the same doesn’t apply in a corner area melee . If you think deliberate time wasting is acceptable , whatever the method or guise , then I give up .

 

Don't often see the keeper hold the ball like on Sunday anymore as teams tend to press the keeper but Man City deliberately allowed them to, it wasn't really time wasting, it was part of excellent game management by Guardiola knowing Arsenal don't go long from the keeper.

 

There’s a massive difference. If a keeper rolls the ball back & forth on the ground then they can be legitimately pressurised and tackled just like any other player who holds on to the ball for too long can. I don’t understand why you can’t see that.

 

Perhaps you should re read my comment . Keepers are way way over protected as opposed to corner melees . When a keeper is about to kick out a ball the opponent isn’t even allowed to approach the keeper when kicking out of hands to any extent as they now class it as obstruction . So besides rolling balls under feet for 30 secs he can then pick it up if a player approaches and hold in his hands for a further 8 seconds . We are approaching half a minute here and then if the forward approaches as he’s kicking from the hands he then gets a free kick . It’s ludicrous and spoils the game , yet all within the rules . Rules set by idiots !

 

But why would any team allow a keeper to roll the ball around unchallenged for half a minute (unless they want to, like Man City did, as they were ahead)? That’s just stupid and serves them right. They should be pressurising him as soon as he gets the ball so that he has to either kick it or pick it up and start the eight second countdown. If the opposition are daft enough to just back off indefinitely then the keeper is well within his rights to hang onto the ball on the deck for as long as he wants, just as any other player can do if not challenged.
Keepers are only over-protected when the ball is in the air or in their hands; there are numerous examples of keepers conceding goals by being robbed of the ball on the ground or forced into misplaced passes by aggressive pressing. There’s no excuse for allowing a keeper to dwell on the ball; if you do that it’s your own stupid fault.

 

Arsenal stopped doing it as soon as they went behind, you have that the wrong way round .
Even pundits , generally professionals admit it’s done also to waste time


Goalkeepers rolling the ball under their foot is
a high-risk, showboating, or time-wasting tactic used to bait opponents, often criticized as "nonsense" by pundits. While it can demonstrate composure, it frequently leads to mistakes, such as the 2026 Carabao Cup final where Kepa Arrizabalaga was blamed for doing this before a crucial error.
Key Aspects of the "Roll Under Foot" Technique & Risk:

• The Action: A goalkeeper places their sole on top of the ball to stop it or gently roll it, often while surveying options or waiting for opponents to advance.
• Purpose: Usually done to slow down play, "draw" forward players onto them to create space, or simply to show confidence.
• Risks: It can lead to severe errors, such as in 2015 when a Brazilian goalkeeper conceded a goal after a poor attempt at this move.
• Criticism: Pundit Gary Neville criticized Kepa Arrizabalaga for doing this repeatedly in the 2026 Carabao Cup final, saying it did not help his team and actually invited unnecessary pressure on his team.

Conversely, in younger age groups or different contexts, coaches might teach rolling the ball using the hands as a key distribution skill.

A quick search without digging deeper .

 

Of course it’s done to run down the clock. But there are fair and foul ways of doing that. Passing the ball around in your own half is done to ‘waste time’. There’s nothing wrong with hanging onto the ball for as long as you can to stop the opposition from having it. It’s up to the opposition to pressure you into releasing it. It’s also a legitimate tactic used to draw the opposition forward to create space in their half. All part of the tactics of the game.

 

That's what they were trying to do with City but instead of going all out press City just closed the space between the lines, Arsenals keeper stuck with the ball as there was no avenues to pass out from the back.

 

It's not cheating at all, it's no different to when outfield players keep the ball in the corner. Lot of goalkeepers do it for the purpose of opening up space in the build up, he stopped doing it later on as it wouldn't work when Man City have no interest in pressing. It looks like you've copy and pasted that from ChatGPT and it's taken comments out of context. Gary Neville was saying that Arsenal playing it out from the back wasn't working and that Kepa should have gone long so they could get out of their own half, it had nothing to do with time wasting.

The Forest Green goalkeeper wasn't cheating or time wasting when we let him get to the half way line a few years ago.

 

Does anyone ever read posts properly? I said “ a quick search “ . So we have it finally acknowledged it’s used for timewasting AMONG playing reasons . See post #13 If it’s used to, run down the clock , it’s cheating . No different to fake injuries.

Taking it in its basic form why was the 8 second goalkeeper rule introduced? To stop the clock being run down, ie stop, holding on to the ball too long, thus unnecessarily ceasing play , so Arsenal predominantly introduced another way. By rolling the ball under the foot for , as Sunday proved , 30 seconds, when there were multiple opportunities to throw, roll, kick to one of their own team.
Not interested in FGR btw, there was no 8 second rule then, right?

A simple game run by idiots . EG Which idiots created the rule the keeper could take a dead ball kick in the left side corner of the 6 yard box if the ball went dead at the opposite side, even as close to the corner flag . To mask the infallibility of stupid rules they decided to place balls around the field of play, for keepers and players alike to pick up , only for them to ignore, or let fans throw on the ball that went out of play so to delay play even further because we have two balls on the pitch . All outcomes helped waste time by one of the teams , generally in the lead .