The art of goalkeeper timewasting and why Wycombe Wanderers also use it – Topics on the Terrace

Welcome to The Quartermen’s latest article series ‘Topics on the Terrace’, where we discuss and analyse what supporters are talking about right now.

Wycombe Wanderers are under the cosh. The opposition team have put together a string of good passes and are holding possession well. For the last few minutes, Wycombe have hardly got into the game. Any Wycombe regain of possession is usually followed by a long clearance or hopeful through ball, and it feels like it’s only a matter of time until they concede.

A cross is put in, and goalkeeper Will Norris jumps to claim it, only to then go down awkwardly, holding his calf. The physio is waved on, while Wycombe’s players huddle around the dugout, getting a break, some water but most importantly, tactical instructions from manager Michael Duff on how best to stem the tide.

Miraculously, a minute or so later, Norris is back up on his feet able to play on, and unlike an outfield player, doesn’t need to leave the pitch for a minute. All the sting has been taken out of the opposition team’s attack and spelling possession, while Wycombe now have new instructions to help prevent that happening again.

Sound familiar? It’s happened in a number of games this season for Wycombe, with Norris even going down three times while Wycombe netted three times to secure a victory over Stevenage.

The “dark arts” are something Wycombe fans aren’t unfamiliar with following a decade with Gareth Ainsworth, but it seems so prevalent in modern football that every team and manager has adopted it in one way or another. So prevalent is it, that the IFAB (International Football Association Board) have discussed the issue of the “tactical timeout” of goalkeeper “injuries”, with the BBC reporting that “Ifab’s advisory panels have discussed the issue at some length but, so far, there has been no agreement on a solution.”

So why do clubs do it? Why is it so prevalent?

Clubs will look to secure any and all advantages they can take, for example the trend of set pieces becoming more relied upon by clubs across the English leagues, long throws becoming more common again, and the tactical goalkeeper injury is just one such example.

As mentioned above, it allows teams to take the sting out of opposition spells of dominance with no cost to their own team, as goalkeepers don’t need to leave the pitch.

It allows for an impromptu break in play for teams to have a rest and importantly get tactical instructions from their manager, both of which can help turn games around.

If you’re leading or drawing, it can provide a sprint board to tweak your team to find a goal, or even if you’re winning, it can deny the opposition team a chance to build momentum, and buy yourself more time to keep your defensive unit compact and sharp, or to even swing the momentum in your favour.

In Wycombe’s game with Stevenage, with the game at 1-1 with Stevenage having equalised in the 50th minute. They have been the better team since the start of the second half.

Wycombe’s Norris dutifully goes down with an injury, which allows Duff to make a triple substitution and to drain some of the momentum of Stevenage.

Note at least two minutes have passed combined between Norris’ injury and the substitutions, which again drains the momentum of Stevenage, while allowing Wycombe to tweak their tactics setup. 

And it worked. By the 65th minute, Wycombe are the team on the push now, with Daniel Harvie winning a corner and Wycombe starting to push into Stevenage’s half far more frequently. 

Just over six minutes later, substitute Nathan Lowe nets to make it 2-1 to Wycombe. After 20 minutes of dominance from Stevenage, a Norris injury combined with a triple substitution from Wycombe allow their Chairboys to completely halt their momentum, and swing it in their favour.

Why is it used? Because it works. Some, including myself, don’t particularly love it, but there are no rules against it.

Teams will continue to take advantage of it, if this trick even wins a handful of points over the season (as it did with Wycombe against Stevenage), teams will continue to abuse it. In Leagues with incredibly tight competition, with six teams within at least seven points of the sixth playoff space in League One, they will take every single advantage they can possibly get.

Until that’s changed? Get used to seeing Will Norris go down every 20 minutes.