Arsenal's Slegers miffed by GK timeouts in Man Utd draw

LONDON -- Arsenal boss Renee Slegers admitted frustration at goalkeeper timeouts that stunted play during a goalless draw with Manchester United in the Women's Super League (WSL) and said a solution needs to be found.

During Arsenal's 0-0 draw with Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce went down for a timeout at two key stages of the game -- the 30-minute-mark when momentum was gathering for the hosts and at the 65th minute after right-back Jayde Riviere was shown a second yellow and sent off.

"As quick as possible and I think we did it before Phallon [Tullis-Joyce] went down for us to discuss tactical changes. I think it's good that we know as a group what we have to do in that situation," United defender Dominique Janssen admitted post-match.

Manager Marc Skinner quelled suspicion that those were purely tactical, stating that Tullis-Joyce had an issue both times.

Slegers, however, was frustrated at the breaks in momentum and stated that the tactical timeouts and lengthy stoppage time -- a total of 13 minutes all together -- makes the game less attractive to fans.

"It's frustrating for the players on the pitch because when you have momentum and you want to keep the rhythm going, you don't want the ball to be dead," she said.

"I think it's also frustrating if I look at the bigger picture. I think there's so many people investing so much to come and watch us in the stadium, on TV, I think that the product needs to be attractive and I think this is probably one of the areas that brings the entertainment down a little bit."

When asked if she would welcome a change that would see only captains allowed to talk to managers on the sidelines, rather than a whole team huddle, Slegers said: "I think that could be an example of [a solution], but I think there's so much at stake.

"I think teams, coaches, players are always looking to stretch the rules. And so I wonder what would be the next, so there'll always be something. It's important that we keep the game attractive and there's a lot at stake."

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Skinner said he would also welcome changes to the rules.

"Referees have tried, PGMOL tried to put things in place," he said. "If one of our [outfield] players gets injured by an accidental challenge, they have to come off for 30 seconds, so you lose an advantage there. So I think it's hard.

"Phallon had something and the doctors went on to see it but I can see the cynical side of it, but from my perspective, I'd happily explore it, because we regularly face it ourselves."