is not interested in any complaints about time-wasting or ball-in-play time, saying any manager whingeing about it is being a hypocrite.
Allardyce’s Leeds team host Newcastle in the on Saturday afternoon, with the Magpies having come in for criticism for how little the ball is in play during their matches.
Manager hit out at Arsenal, accusing them of time-wasting tactics during a 2-0 defeat to the Gunners last weekend, but it has since been revealed that the Magpies have the ball in play for the least amount of time in the Premier League, at just 52 per cent of minutes in their matches.
manager Erik ten Hag labelled Newcastle ‘annoying’ to play against earlier in the season and called on referees to do more to keep the ball in play more often.
‘The referees want to play effective time,’ said the Dutchman. ‘[Newcastle] have the lowest in the league and they are quite successful with it. So, it’s up to us that we get speed in the game but also we are then dependent on the refereeing as well.’
The subject was broached with Big Sam, but he wasn’t having any of it, saying in a press conference on Thursday: ‘Who doesn’t do it? Who complained?’
When told both Ten Hag and Jurgen Klopp had made complaints, Allardyce said they are both guilty of time-wasting.
‘They all time waste last five minutes when they’re winning 2-1, don’t be daft, that’s rubbish that is,’ he said.
‘We’ve all been talking about ball in play more than talking about time wasting, whether ball in play can be improved.
‘But the game is ferocious and quick enough as it is. Players fatigue and injuries and players’ resources are strained more than ever before.
‘If you speed the game up even more, increase the time they’re on the pitch even more you’re going to get more and more injuries and crippling injures because it’s never been so quick as it is now.
‘With it being so quick, recovery time becomes of the essence, but because there’s so many games there’s no recovery time, because there’s no recovery time you get more injuries and ultimately more chronic injuries’ which can limit a player’s career to a lot shorter than it should be.’
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