Richard Keys has called on the Premier League to implement a major rule change after Liverpool’s dramatic win over Newcastle United.
Monday’s match between Newcastle and Liverpool was an instant classic, with Arne Slot’s team securing a thrilling victory.
Ryan Gravenberch scored the opener in the 35th minute, and Newcastle was soon down to 10 men after Anthony Gordon was sent off following a VAR review, prompting harsh criticism from Alan Shearer.
Shortly after halftime, Hugo Ekitike extended Newcastle’s lead, but Bruno Guimarães pulled one back for Liverpool.
William Osula equalized with just two minutes remaining, before Rio Ngumoha clinched the win for Liverpool in stoppage time.
While the game lived up to expectations, Keys highlighted a major issue: the amount of time the ball was actually in play.
He pointed out that the ball was in play for only 40.8% of the match—the lowest percentage in a Premier League game in 15 years—and argued that fans are being shortchanged. Keys proposed introducing a 60-minute “ball in play” clock to address this.
Writing on X, Keys said, “So a match that ran to 100+ minutes saw a ball in play time of just 40.8%—the lowest in a PL match for 15 years. Fans are being robbed. We should play to a 60 minute ball in play clock.”
Newcastle manager Arne Slot seemed to agree with Keys’ concerns, criticizing the excessive number of set-pieces and saying the match lacked tactical depth.
“I’m not sure if I saw a football match today. It was set-piece after set-piece, long throw,” Slot told Sky Sports. “It didn’t have a lot to do with tactics, like I said before the game, but I liked how we stood strong. The first 30 to 45 minutes were very tough, but we didn’t collapse.”
Slot added, “Going down to 10 men, you’d expect that to be an advantage for us, but when the goalkeeper takes every free kick, it’s harder to benefit from having an extra player. That’s why it was difficult to hold onto the 2-0 lead.”
He concluded, “There wasn’t much open play. With set-pieces, long throw-ins, and long balls from the goalkeeper, you don’t really need an extra man.”
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