Sin bins have been trialled in grassroots football and are set to be tested out at higher levels, but Arsenal hero Paul Merson is not happy about it, describing the idea as ‘pathetic’ and predicting a terrible impact if the change comes in at the top level.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced on Tuesday that trials of sin bins will come in beyond the grassroots tests they have carried out, potentiall at professional level.
The sin bins have been used for dissent and the trials have been successful in reducing the levels of abuse that officials receive.
However, Merson feels there will be a price to pay for that benefit, with games likely to grind to a negative halt while one team is down a player for 10 minutes and the sport will suffer.
‘So they want to bring in sin bins. Sin bins? Pathetic,’ Merson told Sky Sports.
‘You put someone in the sin bin in football for 10 minutes, you’re killing the game. You’d get 10 players sitting behind the ball the whole time, it’d be the most boring football ever. It’s an absolute waste of time, a waste of time.
‘All they’d be doing then for that 10 minutes is taking their time over taking a throw-in, they’ll take a goal kick, they’ll buy a foul, and it’ll just grind out the worst 10 minutes you could imagine.’
Merson hit out at the decision-makers, saying they have already failed to get VAR right, and making more changes to the game is not the answer.
‘We’re talking about people who know the rules but don’t have a clue about football. Not a clue. It’ll just make people argue even more! “Oh, he should’ve been sent to the sin bin last week.”
‘When are they going to stop? Don’t put new things in when you haven’t fixed the problems with the rules you’ve already got.
‘It’s like going to a restaurant and having a spaghetti bolognese, it comes out and you take a taste and say “Oh, that tastes horrible”. You don’t put it back in the kitchen and start putting extra stuff in it! They’re putting more pressure on themselves.’
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