New stoppage time rules saw playing time increase by around seven minutes on average compared to last season across the EFL’s opening weekend and Sunday’s Community Shield.
Arsenal and Manchester City’s clash at Wembley lasted longer than all but seven of last season’s Premier League games, following on from a league programme in which five games had over 20 minutes stoppage time across the first and second halves combined.
Here, the PA news agency looks at how the new approach affected playing time.
Community Shield
Substitute Leandro Trossard scored Arsenal’s equaliser in the 11th of 12 minutes added at full-time against City before his side sealed victory on penalties.
A total of 105 minutes and 45 seconds of playing time was over six minutes longer than last year’s equivalent fixture between City and Liverpool.
It was also more than seven minutes up on last term’s Premier League average of 98mins 31secs and longer than all but seven of the season’s 380 top-flight games – Chelsea v Everton, on last August’s opening day, being the longest at 110:21.
City boss Pep Guardiola expressed frustration before the match with the new rules, noting that “every game we’re going to play for 100 minutes” as part of a wider criticism of the demands placed on players.
Opposite number Mikel Arteta was unsurpisingly more positive after Trossard’s strike, saying: “It is really good to do that (enforce rules against time-wasting). It was going too far and now teams are going to have to think twice.
“We have to prepare to play 100 minutes. It is going to happen every single week.”
Championship
Average playing time across the 12 Championship fixtures this weekend was 104 minutes and nine seconds, nearly six minutes up on last season’s average of 98:21.
Leeds’s Crysencio Summerville snatched an equaliser against Cardiff in the fifth added minute while Adam Idah’s winner for Norwich came in the sixth, with Hull manager Liam Rosenior sent off for his protests after only five were indicated by the fourth official.
Ipswich’s win at Sunderland was the longest game at just over 108 minutes, with all bar Middlesbrough v Millwall and Bristol City v Preston cracking the 100-minute barrier.
League One
The third tier saw Saturday’s matches all last beyond 100 minutes with an average of exactly 106, up from 99:20 last term.
Portsmouth’s 83rd-minute substitue Kusini Yengi scored a stoppage-time equaliser against Bristol Rovers, albeit barely a minute beyond the end of the 90, while Fleetwood’s equaliser at Carlisle came in the fourth minute of first-half added time.
Northampton v Stevenage, with a total playing time of 112 minutes and 36 seconds, was the longest across the English league this weekend.
League Two
The most striking increase came in League Two, where games lasted an average of 107 minutes and four seconds – exactly eight minutes longer than last season.
Accrington v Newport was the longest at 110:46 while even the shortest games, Stockport v Gillingham and Wrexham v MK Dons, lasted 104:24.
Farrend Rawson scored Morecambe’s winner two minutes into added time against Walsall while Wrexham’s typically madcap 5-3 loss on their EFL return featured goals in the fourth and sixth minutes of second-half stoppage time.
Andrich and Tah have 'greed and hunger' for Germany success after Leverkusen exploits
Robert Andrich and Jonathan Tah highlighted their "greed and hunger for another title", as the Bayer Leverkusen duo target Euro 2024 glory with Germany.
Tah and Andrich enjoyed a memorable 2023-24 season with Leverkusen, winning the club's first ever Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal, with their only defeat across all competitions coming against Atalanta in the Europa League final.
Xabi Alonso's side completed the double with victory over Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium last time out.
Andrich is desperately hoping for a swift return to the same venue, where the Euro 2024 showpiece will be played on June 14, and for further silverware to follow.
"We have this greed, the hunger for another title," the midfielder said. "I think that [German Cup final] was very special for me - the Olympic stadium, training there, playing the final. These are special moments, more special than in other matches.
"You cannot buy these memories and this gives you a boost to play there again."
Team-mate Tah concurred: "I would say the double win definitely puts wind in your sails. With a lot of greed, we want to keep being successful and play the entire year successfully.
"After a few days, our batteries will again be fully loaded. We are looking forward to the tournament, which is special for all of us, so the batteries kind of charge themselves because of that."
Germany launch the tournament against Scotland on June 14, while Julian Nagelsmann's side will also face Hungary and Switzerland in Group A.
Kompany wants to see 'real winners come to life' at Bayern
Vincent Kompany challenged Bayern Munich to bounce back from their 2023-24 disappointment, and wants to see which players are "most hungry to win again".
The Belgian was named Bayern's new boss on a three-year deal, replacing the outgoing Thomas Tuchel following a trophyless campaign at the Allianz Arena.
The Bavarian giants surrendered their 11-year grip on the Bundesliga title to Xabi Alonso's unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, while Real Madrid defeated them in the Champions League semi-finals.
Kompany knows what it takes to respond in the face of adversity, with Manchester City coming up just short against the likes of Manchester United in the Premier League in between the four titles he won during his time with the Citizens.
And he has urged his new squad to demonstrate that character and determination to get back in the winner's circle next season.
"We're in a situation now where, last year, we lost," he told reporters during his introductory press conference.
"Having been in this position myself as well as a player, I know that this is when you react, this is where you see real winners come to life.
"I'm actually excited to start pre-season with them. I make no distinction; I just want to see which players are most hungry to represent this club next season and win again, and be successful.
Kompany's appointment earlier this week was widely reported as a surprise one, after he was unable to keep Burnley in the Premier League in 2023-24.
However, the 38-year-old insists he has already settled into his new surroundings.
"My mentality is that I never haven't ever worked for a top club in my head," he added.
"A top club is the environment you create. It's the mentality you have towards your job in good and bad times, that's what defines working at the top level. It already feels like home."
Martino rejects claims Messi saving himself for Copa America after Inter Miami defeat
Gerardo Martino refused to comment on suggestions that Lionel Messi was saving himself for the Copa America, following Inter Miami's 3-1 defeat by Atlanta United.
Despite his 11th goal of the season - and first in three games - Messi was unable to prevent a first loss in 11 MLS matches for the Eastern Conference leaders at Chase Stadium.
Saba Lobjanidze scored in each half to put 12th-place Atlanta in control and, though Messi halved the deficit, Jamal Thiare struck in the 73rd minute to snap the visitors' nine-game winless streak.
Messi, who was back in the starting line-up after missing Miami's 2-1 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps last time out, will soon link up with Argentina ahead of their Copa America title defence, which starts in a couple of weeks' time.
Martino was asked whether he thought the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner's focus was distracted by the forthcoming tournament in the United States, where the reigning world champions will seek their third silverware in four years.
"No, I will not speculate if Messi is saving himself for Copa America because [that question has] no validity," the head coach said.
On Miami's performance, he continued: "The first feeling is that we were missing one more gear compared to Atlanta, and that was evident in the first half and during the second half.
"It was a night where the team regressed compared to other games. I think we were very well outmatched, and they beat us well.
"The conditions were favourable, much more for us than them. But their position on the table is deceiving, and they showed that."
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