When Arsenal scored their second goal against a Swansea defence that had stopped yesterday there were more than one or two bemused faces in the Liberty Stadium wondering why the referee had not blown for a foul on Lukasz Fabianski.

Goalkeepers are generally seen as protected species on the football pitch and there is more than one occasion in most games where you wonder why a foul has been given on the goalkeeper.

So it is little wonder why the Swans fans looked so confused yesterday as to why there was no foul given on the Swans keeper for spilling the ball under pressure from two Arsenal players.

That does of course not excuse any player who elected to stop and wait for the whistle (one of the basic errors there can be) but it does make you appreciate just why so many people get frustrated with the standards of refereeing that we see in the Premier League week in week out.

The decision to let the goal stand yesterday was not one that had any impact on the final scoreline I don't believe although it did effectively end the game as a contest but I would imagine most of the 20,900 crowd expected a free kick to be given the moment that the ball fell from the goalkeeper's grip.

The consistency that we ask for is from the referees and for me it has long been a contentious issue in terms of what does constitute a foul on the goalkeeper. Far too many times I have watched a free kick given against us when it looks like the goalkeeper has merely dropped the ball. If this is to be the case then so be it but then it has to be the same in every game from every referee which clearly isn't the case at the moment.

Garry Monk spoke after the game yesterday about how he believed that Fabianski should have punched the ball and I would hazard a guess that after yesterday's game we will see him take that option more and more.

Which is probably a good thing until the consistency comes

Photo: Action Images

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