Updated at 23.56
TOTTENHAM HEAD coach Ange Postecoglou has warned any proposal to introduce blue cards and sin bins will destroy football.
It was revealed on Thursday that a trial could commence soon where a blue card would be shown for dissent and professional fouls where the offenders would be sin binned for 10 minutes.
Fifa has since clarified the trial will not occur in elite football, while football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board, will not publish plans for the sin bin trial until next month.
However, Postecoglou was unequivocal in his belief it would be a wrong move.
“One team being down to 10 men for 10 minutes, you know what it’s going to do to our game? It’s going to destroy it, mate,” Postecoglou insisted.
“You’re going to have one team just sitting there trying to waste time for 10 minutes waiting for a guy to come on.
“Every other sport is trying to declutter. All we’re trying to do is go the other way for some bizarre reason.”
Postecoglou talked at length about the laws of the game ahead of Saturday’s visit of Brighton.
The Spurs boss defended goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who conceded from another corner during last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Everton.
Vicario failed to deal with Dwight McNeil’s delivery into his six-yard area while under pressure from Jack Harrison, which was also the case in the 1-0 loss to Manchester City last month.
Ruben Dias crowded round Vicario on that occasion from a Kevin De Bruyne corner and the Tottenham goalkeeper’s flap resulted in Nathan Ake scoring.
Spurs have written to Professional Game Match Officials Limited this week to get clarification over why both goals have not fallen under the bracket of encroachment.
“We have sent some stuff to get some clarification,” Postecoglou revealed.
“I’m going to get called out for this, but there was a thing that was quite evident in the game that the goalkeeper was a protected species. I don’t think that’s just me making that up.
“The reason people used to say that was that if you really impeded a goalkeeper in any way in the six-yard box, you are going to get a foul. I knew that as a player, I knew that as a manager.
“I think there’s been a shift there where now to me, it’s obstruction.
“If you’re standing in front of a goalkeeper stopping him before a ball has even arrived, in layman’s terms that’s obstruction.
“With the goalkeepers, what’s that going to do now? Well, it’s pretty much opened it up that you can surround the goalkeeper and crowd him and put balls on top of him and just wait for the scramble to finish and see what happens.
“I was really proud of Vic the other day. I think they had nine corners after we conceded and I think he dealt with just about every other one by coming out and actually having a crack at it
“I can’t praise him highly enough over the way he handled it.
“And the whole thing where people say, ‘you’ve got to be stronger’, well, what does that mean?
“If he pushes or does anything to a player, with VAR, you’ve got no chance. You’re going to get a penalty against you.”
Opta Analyst this week claimed Spurs have a 0.1 per cent chance of winning the Premier League this season.
“What did it say, 0.1 per cent? So we (have) got a chance then. Let’s go for it. No problems, no issues with that. We’ve got a chance,” Postecoglou smiled.
Meanwhile, Postecoglou hailed the professionalism of Tottenham captain Son Heung-min ahead of his club return for Saturday’s visit of Brighton.
Son suffered Asian Cup disappointment with South Korea on Tuesday as they lost 2-0 to Jordan at the semi-final stage.
The South Korea skipper cut a dejected figure at full-time, but was quickly back on a plane to the UK and trained on Friday to make himself available for Spurs’ fixture with Brighton.
Postecoglou said: “It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see him be like that.
“He was very, very disappointed with Korea’s exit because they haven’t won it for quite a while and after they got past Australia, when you get to the semi-final stage, you feel so close.
“But anyone who watched the tournament (knows) he gave everything for his nation and didn’t leave anyone questioning his commitment to his country.
“He was spent by the end of it but I spoke to him not long after it and he was keen to come back, get amongst the boys again. He was keen to come back here.
“It didn’t surprise me that he wanted to train straight away and be available. That’s why he is the person he is.”
The return of 12-goal Son is the latest boost for Tottenham, who had Pape Sarr involved at Everton and will have Yves Bissouma available for this weekend’s clash with his old club.
Bissouma endured a mixed Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Mali after he struggled with illness, but Postecoglou provided an update on his fitness.
He explained: “Yves had a slight form of malaria before the tournament started, but it cleared up after the tournament started. He had no issues after that.”
Manor Solomon (knee) and Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring) are the only players on the treatment table at Tottenham, but ex-Fulham attacker Solomon could return by the end of February.
Postecoglou is excited to have his options in midfield and attack boosted ahead of the final three months of the season.
Spurs start a run of three consecutive home matches when Brighton visit, but the away side will be without manager Roberto De Zerbi, who has a touchline ban to serve following his third yellow card of the campaign in last weekend’s win over Crystal Palace.
“It’s disappointing that Roberto won’t be there because I’ve got a lot of time for him and a great respect for him,” Postecoglou added.
“It’s the existence we have as managers these days. I think I’m one card away from sitting in the stands, so I shouldn’t cast judgement on others.
“So disappointed he won’t be on the touchline but hopefully I’ll get to say hello to him at some point.”
