News and reaction from the bet365 Stadium as Stoke City win Championship opener against Rotherham United
Alex Neil hopes that the EFL wind referees back down a gear or two after a card-happy opening weekend.
The Stoke City boss and Matt Taylor, his counterpart at Rotherham, were bemused by John Busby’s decision to show the yellow card 10 times – including twice to Rotherham player Cafu – during a match which wasn’t particularly aggressive or bad tempered at the bet365 Stadium.
The league wants to clamp down on time wasting and chat back as well as bring in measures to try to increase the amount of time the ball spends in play. Players who need physio treatment must now spend at least 30 seconds off the pitch while there were six minutes added at the end of the first half and seven at the end of the second.
Five Stoke players were booked, including Jacob Brown for kicking the ball away after the whistle was blown and Daniel Johnson for taking too long to hand the ball to Rotherham for a free-kick. Ben Pearson, Josh Laurent and also had their names taken.
Neil said: “I thought it was some really soft bookings as well. Daniel Johnson’s booking I thought was terrible because he actually picked the ball up and just dropped it back down. He didn’t move the ball or kick it away.
“I took Ben Pearson off because I was worried he was going to get another booking and what I didn’t need at that point was for the game to be levelled up because we were in control. We took them off and that just alleviated that fear and allowed us to see the game out.
“I think that the referees at the moment, if you had a dial, are too far one way in terms of the added time and the bookings.
“I think we need to readjust a little bit and I’m hoping that will happen over the next month.”
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