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Football's lawmakers could reportedly introduce a new rule to combat sneaky 'tactical timeouts'.
It comes after Leeds manager Daniel Farke accused Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of going down with a 'fake injury' to buy a timeout on Saturday.
We all know the script. If a goalkeeper goes down to receive treatment, that gives the manager a chance to gather his players together and speak to them.
Outfield players used to do this also but in the 2023-24 season, a new rule was introduced whereby they had to stay off the field for 30 seconds afterwards to nullify any advantage gained.
Goalkeepers cannot be forced to leave the field in the same way, but they may soon be asked to nominate an outfield player to go off temporarily in their place. This idea had support at a meeting of the International Football Association Board's Football and Technical Advisory Panels in October, according to BBC Sport.
And now Daily Mail Sport can reveal which teams in the Premier League have the ball out of play the most, in a potential indication of who is wasting the most time.
A rule change has been proposed to stop goalkeepers going down to force 'tactical timeouts'
Leeds boss Daniel Farke was furious that Man City goalie Gianluigi Donnarumma went down
Are Tottenham the biggest time-wasters? The ball is in play for the least amount of time in their matches - but that doesn't tell the full story
We can reveal that Tottenham only have the ball in play for 52 minutes and 50 seconds on average in the games that they play, according to Opta's analysis.
Brentford and Bournemouth closely trail them, with the ball typically in play for just 53 minutes and 14 seconds in their matches.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily equate to time-wasting. If a team is fouled a lot, for example, then you'd expect the ball to be out of play more. And the total time is determined not only by a team's behaviour, but the opposition that they have faced.
Brentford spend a long time preparing their long throws and would argue that that is not wasted time - but the opposition might disagree.
Farke was livid with Manchester City at the weekend after losing 3-2 to them and called for a rule change.
But Pep Guardiola's side are the team who actually have the ball in play the most at their games, with their time totalling 57 minutes and 36 seconds.
Other 'free-flowing' teams include Everton (56 minutes and 39 seconds) and, in fairness to Farke, Leeds (56 minutes and 27 seconds).
Again, just because these teams see the ball in play the most doesn't mean that they are above using time-wasting or timeout tactics. Every team does it.
Managers get the chance to speak with their teams when a goalkeeper goes down and there is no comeuppance
City were 2-1 up just before the hour mark when Donnarumma went down under the instruction of Ruben Dias.
That gave Guardiola a chance to bring his players together and issue some instructions and they sought to defend their lead - something that initially failed as Lukas Nmecha equalised in the 68th minute.
Farke accused Donnarumma of gamesmanship and said: ‘Everyone knows why he went down. I asked the fourth official at this point if you want to do something and he said “No, our hands are tied, we can’t do anything”.
‘If we don’t educate our players in football, what to do in terms of fair play, sportsmanship, if you just try to bend the rules to your advantage and you can do a fake injury in order to do an additional team talk, personally it’s not what I like.
‘But if it is within the rules - I can’t complain about it. There are tools that you can use to make sure that this won’t happen but if we don’t use it then probably we have to change the rules.’
Farke insisted that Donnarumma went down rather than an outfield player because the referee Peter Bankes than had to halt proceedings.
The Leeds boss suggested that lawmakers could give the ball back to the opposing team or shorten additional time if they suspect gamesmanship.
‘There are tools that you can use to make sure that this won’t happen but if we don’t use it then probably we have to change the rules,’ Farke added.
According to BBC Sport, the rule changes discussed in October included various methods such as sending an outfield player off, or banning players from going to the touchline during a stoppage.
There was also an acknowledgement that sometimes, goalkeepers are just genuinely injured.
The issue will be debated again on January 20 at IFAB's annual business meeting.
