Richard Keys calls for significant rule change following Liverpool’s dramatic victory over Newcastle.

Richard Keys Calls for Major Premier League Rule Change After Liverpool’s Thrilling Win Over Newcastle

Richard Keys has called on the Premier League to implement a significant rule change following Liverpool’s dramatic win against Newcastle United.

The two sides played out a thrilling encounter on Monday, with Arne Slot’s Liverpool emerging victorious in a game full of drama. Ryan Gravenberch gave Liverpool the lead in the 35th minute, and the game took another twist when Anthony Gordon was shown a red card after a VAR review. Despite being down to ten men, Newcastle continued to fight, with Hugo Ekitike making it 2-0 early in the second half. Bruno Guimarães pulled one back, and William Osula equalised late on—only for Rio Ngumoha to seal the win for Liverpool in stoppage time.

While the match delivered on excitement, Richard Keys pointed out a major issue: the lack of actual playing time. He criticized the fact that the ball was only in play for 40.8% of the game—the lowest in the Premier League for 15 years—and argued that fans are being shortchanged. He proposed switching to a 60-minute stop-clock system to ensure more effective playtime.

“So a match that ran to 100+ minutes saw a ball in play time of just 40.8% – the lowest in a PL match for 15 years,” Keys posted on X. “Fans are being robbed. We should play to a 60-minute ball in play clock.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot appeared to echo Keys’ concerns, lamenting the stop-start nature of the match. Speaking to Sky Sports, he described the game as dominated by set-pieces and long throws, rather than tactics and open play.

“I’m not too sure if I saw a football match today. It was set-piece after set-piece, long throw,” said Slot. “Going down to 10 men, you would expect that that is a big plus for us, but when a goalkeeper takes every free kick, then there’s not so much help if you are one player up.”

He concluded that the lack of open play made it difficult for his side to control the match, despite their numerical advantage.