Credit: Tung Manh Phan

Richie Mills

Mon 9 March 2026 15:10, UK

Aidy Whyte has slammed Sunderland’s time-wasting and play-acting tactics in their 1-0 win at Leeds United.

When the full-time whistle blew at Elland Road last Tuesday, Sunderland’s players punched the air as their Premier League safety was virtually assured.

The Mackems hit the 40-point mark while Leeds are just three points above the relegation zone, a further nine points back.

While Regis Le Bris’ men came away with the win, Leeds fans felt Sunderland’s performance was quite anti-football, with their stoppages topping 31 minutes.

Leeds, arguably, didn’t do enough to win the game, but former Elland Road favourite White feels that Sunderland fell the wrong side of what is acceptable when it comes to game management.

Did Sunderland go too far with exploiting the new head injury rules?

For this season, the Premier League introduced new rules where if a player has a suspected head injury, the referee will stop the game.

The official will immediately signal for a doctor or physio to enter the pitch to check the player’s welfare, who will then need to leave the field of play for at least 30 seconds.

That has led to many players going down, the game gets stopped, and team talks take place, but they are then given the all-clear, which can halt any momentum.

White discussed this on The Square Ball podcast, saying: “I think because I can probably see it from the game management point of view as well, unfortunately. It doesn’t give me hard feelings, should we say, because I understand why teams do it. It is cheating, and it’s not nice to see.

“But at the same time, I can appreciate that teams want to do everything they can to win. When the shoe is on the other foot, and your team is so-called doing the dark arts, it’s all rosy and things.

“But when you’ve got a team like Sunderland who are kind of taking the [expletive] with it a little bit, then it can be extremely frustrating.

“But as I said, I’ve kind of been on the receiving end of both ends of it. And I actually feel more when somebody does get hurt, that then kind of kicks in with me.”

Incidentally, when Sunderland lost 1-0 to Port Vale in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday, their time-wasting was nowhere to be seen as they tried in vain to find an equaliser.

A penny for Leeds fans’ thoughts.

Leeds receive timely morale boost after Sunderland blow

After Leeds’ loss to Sunderland, which included them not being given a penalty despite Luke O’Nien clearly fouling Pascal Struijk in the box, fans were, understandably, nervous.

They had kept the bottom three at arm’s length for much of the winter, but now they are just three points above 18th-placed West Ham in 15th.

But their fears have somewhat been allayed after Leeds beat Norwich City 3-0 on Sunday to advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

While not too much should be gleaned from a win over a Championship side, this game ended up being an almost perfect one for Leeds.

Farke made nine changes, giving some of his first-teamers a much-needed rest, while giving some fringe players a chance to shine – something they did.

Next Sunday, they travel to Crystal Palace, whereas West Ham host title-chasing Manchester City on Saturday.

On paper, Leeds have a better chance of winning their fixture as they seek to stay in the Premier League for another year.

Regardless, this one is going down to the wire.