Manager Muhsin Ertugral took to social media to voice out the state of football today particularly around player time wasting and other antics on the field.
In his words, Ertugral said, “A friend and colleague Ernst Middendorp took an important topic recently up. Here is my view… it is not Football what we see recent years anymore.
“Players drop like they have been shot. Rolling on the ground for minutes. Goalies go down for minutes when they want to cool down the game or fake a cramp. I think it became a theatre. Bad theatre. In a 90minute game, the ball is in play, around 50’ min sometimes even less, around 45’ minutes. The rest is often acting, time wasting.”
“Fans travel, pay, believe. Coaches prepare. Sponsors invest. We all put lots of effort, energy, and passion into this game. Often I found and experienced many time that it can be stolen by a few Hollywood dives and poor decisions. I don’t think and see as a lost time. I will go further and actually say it’s about stolen effort.”
He further added, “Football is built on courage. On getting up, not falling down. Little touching and players collapse like they’ve been hit by a sniper. And some will call these “clever”? I will call it for sure cowardly. Where are the consequences? If we let this continue, we’re not just losing minutes, we will loose the soul of these game. What I am really worried about is that we will raise generations that believes falling is smarter than fighting, will be not the Game we all love.”
“This game is about pride. About fight. About respect. About passion. I really think it’s time to take our game back.”
Photo: Ziyaad Douglas/Gallo Images/Getty Images