‘You’re on notice’ – Ex-refs chief: Leandro Trossard deserved sanction after ‘punishable’ Arsenal incident
Thomas Bramall should have taken action after Leandro Trossard was allowed to time-waste during Arsenal’s win over Crystal Palace.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that Premier League referees are not doing nearly enough to crack down on these antics.
Eberechi Eze haunted Crystal Palace by scoring the only goal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, 26 October, another goal which came from a set-piece from Mikel Arteta‘s side.
Once again, Viktor Gyokeres failed to impress for Arsenal, barely having a sight of goal throughout his entire 90 minutes on the pitch, but the Gunners still secured all three points at the top of the table.
Leandro Trossard incident is a dark cloud on Arsenal’s win
Despite the impressive performance, Hackett was still frustrated by footage of Trossard clearly time-wasting as Oliver Glasner‘s side attempted to get back into the game, a moment which went unpunished.
Historically, Unai Emery has not been a fan of Bramall, and it was the official who took no action despite Trossard keeping hold of the ball before flicking it away from Daniel Munoz as the Eagles lined up for a throw-in.
While it was a very minor moment in the match, it is incidents like this that continue to disrupt the flow of games and stop the opposition from putting increasing pressure on their goalkeeper.
As well as punishing the Arsenal player, Hackett believes that Bramall should have had words with Bukayo Saka and warned him that all players were being watched for the remainder of the game.
Thomas Bramall should have been harsher with Arsenal star
Hackett spoke exclusively to Football Insider, saying: “The referees have got to be far more proactive. There is far too much time being lost. There is time-consuming, which is within the law, but time-wasting is the other side.
“It is punishable by the letter of the law. He’s delaying the restart of the game, so in that situation, rather than just ignoring it, the referee has two options.
“Tactically, time-wasting can begin from minute one. There is a concentration in the last five minutes, but he should get in early and make it known to the player that he’s unhappy and wants an improvement in behaviour.
“Once he’s back on the pitch, get in proximity with the captain, and explain to him that his players have been warned and that ‘you’re on notice’.”