Feyenoord – FC Midtjylland (2-2) was in the eyes of the analysts at ESPN ‘a nasty match’. The duel in De Kuip was almost as often as when the ball rolled: only 49 minutes of pure playing time. It evokes an old discussion in the TV studio: “Marco van Basten naturally advocates the introduction of pure playing time. I am in that camp too,” says Kenneth Perez.
Midtjylland came to Rotterdam for a run and needed a lot of fouls to make that happen. “It became a really annoying game in the second half,” says Arnold Bruggink. “It was a lot of nagging, just. The referee whistled a lot, and then you really get the rhythm out of the match. The referee was also a bit annoying at one point.” It was also remarkable that Slovenian referee Rade Obrenovic awarded only three minutes of stoppage time after a second half full of delays.
“It is often said that the referee has to keep up the pace, but if Bas Nijhuis does that, it will be disgraceful again,” adds Perez. “Is that comparable? I think so. You keep the pace by not whistling too much, and you certainly keep the tempo if you never whistle at all”, Perez winks.
The Dane therefore hopes for clean playing time. “They have calculated that two times thirty minutes of pure playing time is approximately equal to the current ninety minutes. I understand that the broadcasters are not waiting for it, because a match can also last 100 or 120 minutes. But now with the VAR involved. If you regularly have eight to ten minutes of injury time, then you also get to about one hundred minutes. I would think it would be a solution.” Bruggink is in favour, but has a gloomy view: “Before those decisions are made…” Perez: “Then we won’t be here anymore.”