Ex-PGMOL chief: 'PL must investigate' Newcastle v Liverpool - 'this cannot be overlooked'
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(Credit: Imago)
Jonathan Burnett
Tue 26 August 2025 10:05, UK
Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Newcastle United requires a Premier League investigation after the number of stoppages in the match, Keith Hackett has said.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the statistics from Monday’s five-goal thriller cannot go unnoticed after a huge lack of ball-in-play time at St.
James’ Park.
Liverpool came away victorious thanks to Rio Ngumoha’s winner in the tenth minute of 11 added onto the end of a stop-start second half, which had seen Newcastle claw themselves back level from 2-0 down.
Ryan Gravenberch‘s first-half opener was followed by a third goal in three games from Hugo Ekitike just seconds into the second period, but Bruno Guimaraes and William Osula seemed to have sealed a point.
Ngumoha’s strike came after a plethora of stoppages which included Anthony Gordon’s red card and injuries to Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Fabian Schar, and these breaks in play have produced a damning statistic for referee Simon Hooper.
Rio Ngumoha became Liverpool’s youngest-ever goalscorer against Newcastle (Credit: Imago)
This article contains exclusive comments from ex-PGMOL chief, FIFA official and former professional referee Keith Hackett.
Although 11 minutes of second-half stoppage time followed six minutes added onto the end of the first, Gordon’s red card, Newcastle’s trio of injuries and a plethora of other fouls led to a stop-start encounter.
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Hackett told Football Insider that Joelinton was lucky to avoid any punishment for a high boot on Cody Gakpo in just the fifth minute of the match, which should have been the first yellow card of a fiery match.
OptaJoe posted on X at full-time with the statistic that Monday’s match only had the ball in play for 40.8 per cent of the 117 minutes, the lowest percentage in a Premier League match since February 2010.
Stoke’s 3-0 win over Blackburn 15 years ago produced just 40 per cent ball-in-play time, and Hackett told Football Insider that the Premier League must take steps to prevent another occurence of this.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former FIFA official was asked if Newcastle and Liverpool’s lack of ball-in-play time will be seen as a one-off by the Premier League after that statistic emerged.
“This is frankly an unacceptable stat – it fails to deliver value for money to the paying fans”, Hackett told Football Insider.
“I would recommend that the Premier League launch an investigation to determine where time was lost, once they have the facts they can then produce an action plan.
“They should explore and determine if the stoppages were tactical – given the strength of the opposition, did one of the teams take measures to slow things down?
“Delaying the return of the ball into play at throw ins, corner kicks, free kicks etc – a review can easily determine time lost at various restarts.
“Did the substitution process take longer?
How did the referee interventions slow things down?
“[Simon] Hooper is an official who likes to keep his interventions to a minimum and create a good game flow.
“I would suggest that he is not to blame, but clearly can greatly influence the amount of game-time by ensuring the appropriate amount of added time is applied.
“The game has a problem that cannot be overlooked – the Premier League must investigate.”
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