Its actually the referees down the years letting them get away with murder that has caused all this and the players haven't cottoned on yet, or they think it'll only last a week or two then it'll stop, so they go ets see if this is the week they stop enforcing the new rules.. The referees need to make it clear they won't take any shit, get them all together before the game and state "I will not take any bullshit, you time waste, you play act and I ill book you straight away, I don't care if its the first minute or the last and I will send you off", then actually do it and do it in EVERY game, not just a select few. How did Sheff Utd /Spurs have 13 mins yet Everton/Arsenal only had 4? We had subs, a goal, a death in the first half and we got 4 mins. We've already seen that yellows for waving cards only applies to Mac Allister, yellows for throwing the ball away only applies to Trent and basn for swearing at officials only applies to Virg (I KNOW yellows are at an all time high, but we've seen card waving, timewasting and telling a linesman to fuck off all go unpunished this weekend).
The Palace game always stick cos my lad grassed me up for calling Tierney a c*nt, but their keeper started time wasting from the first time he got the ball, Tierney said nothing until around the 89th minute. We all laughed when Ali dropped to the floor taking the piss out of Pickford, but he T-Rex should have been booked for that in the first place. They created this issue.
This directive is obviously new so we don't know for sure how it will affect the game long term. But for what it's worth a few immediate musings after seeing it in action for a few games:
I think I would ideally prefer time wasting to be dealt with by referees issuing bookings - using the rules and means they already have at their disposal - rather than by adding on endless minutes where lots of odd dynamics could come into play.
For starters I think it won't really discourage timewasting. As there's no danger of bookings or being sent off the players in the moment will continue to waste time and back themselves to see the game out, however much is added on. It might not always work (eg Sheffield Utd the other day) but in the heat of the moment, if the opposition are better than them at actual football, I think they'll take that risk.
And adding lots of minutes at the end will result in lots of late goals and turnarounds, esp by the bigger clubs against lesser clubs. It will alter the dynamics of a game. I think it will mostly help the 'bigger' clubs especially if they have lots of strong, pacy talent on the bench to bring on.
It's also likely that a team that has been doughtily defending their lead will lose some of their spark and determination when they see the board go up with '12' or '15' on it. I think that's partly what happened to the Blades; and it gave Spurs new hope.
It also won't be long before some managers and clubs start to 'use' the new rules. I can imagine a Mourinho-like manager actually instructing his players to time waste in certain circumstances, deliberately encouraging the ref to add on lots of time, knowing that he can bring on a couple of fresh superstars in the double digit minutes that are added on and blitz the opposition when they are absolutely knackered. I suppose some might call that clever tactics but an anti-time waste directive shouldn't really be encouraging time wasting.
Of course I might change my mind on all this but at the moment I'm doubtful that this is a good thing for the game.