Sir Alex Ferguson was furious after his side lost against Tottenham in the weekend. After the match, The Scotch claimed that the four minutes extra time was an "insult to the game. It denies you a proper chance to win a football match". Is Ferguson, right?

Even if, the referee Chris Foy had added more minutes to the second half, Manchester did not even look close to a win - not even a draw. Some might see it as an excuse when the manager said to BBC Sport "There were six substitutions, the trainer came on, so that's four minutes right away, and the goalkeeper must have wasted about two or three minutes, and they took their time at every goal kick". However, at some point the Scotch is right; there is simply too much waste time in modern football.

The former football referee, Graham Poll wrote in Daily Mail on Monday said, "The time the ball os on play is recorded in all toplevel football and used to compile possession statistics. For Champions League games they show the ball is often in play for less than 25 minutes a half". According to Poll, a solution could be to replace the "45 minutes each half and replace it with 30 minutes ball-in-play time" as it would result in "players trying to waste time would gain nothing because the clock isn't running".

Sir Alex Ferguson said after the match "it's a flaw in the game that the referee is responsible for time keeping". Once again there is a point in Ferguson's comment. There is no doubt that a referee can be affected by the two teams players, as well as the crowd on the stands. A referee can be so affected that he will put on an extra few minutes or even a few less. A solution could be to have an official on the stand, taking care of the timekeeping, as we see it in other sports. This will take some of the pressure of the referee, as well as keep the players from wasting the time. They never know when the whistle is going to blow.

Manchester simply wasn't good enough in the match against Tottenham, and it might just have been sour grapes from Ferguson. However, the Scotsman is right; if we want to see faster and better football without time waste, something has to change. However, it seems to be a distant project before the times will chance in football.