Referee Watch With SFC Ref 19th April Wednesday, 19th Apr 2023 13:00 SFC Ref runs the rule over the weekend's games and the refereeing decisions that raised eyebrows and of course ends with his usual quiz about the laws of the game, has anyone got all three right yet ! Aston Villa VS Newcastle (John Brooks) This game was always going to be an interesting one for how well both teams were playing, which many thought was going to be close, and as much as the result wasn’t a surprise the scoreline sure was! But that scoreline had very little to do with Brooks and VAR, with simply them rightfully ruling out a Villa goal for offside, but other than that nothing much more for them to do. So a fairly easy game for VAR and Brooks to officiate. If you’d heard before the season started that one team was going to be 11th and the other 6th in the table after this game, then I think almost everyone would’ve had Chelsea as the higher one, but that’s not how it’s been this season, and this game only went and proved it even more! But thankfully this week Brighton didn’t have any major VAR cock ups go against them, with Brooks and VAR having no major decisions to make with all 3 goals rightfully standing and there being no other major match day incidents. With our results and the Leicester ones making the two of us looking almost certain to go down, it’s now just a question of who out of the rest of those down in the relegation scrap will go down? And after this result, it only showed even more as to why Everton are down where they are, and why in my books it’s between them, Forest and Leeds for which of the 3 will be joining us and Leicester in the championship next season! But for Taylor and VAR it was yet another easy game for them, with no real controversies or major decisions for them to make.
Spurs VS Bournemouth (Andy Madley) This game only went and showed the difference between a team that’s actually trying to stay up and one that’s performing for their fans. But for the officiating side of things, with Madley in the middle for this game, it was a fairly quite one up until the last 10 minutes or so of the game. As there were no real controversies around any of the first 3 goals, and not too much occurs before the 80th minute. Spurs did have a half shout for a penalty but it was just the usual Kane looking for a soft pen, that with the contact it had should never be pen so was rightfully waved away by Madley which was backed by VAR. But the last 10 minutes we had a lot more occurring, as Spurs firstly had a goal ruled out for offside in the build up, but it was a fairly clear one so was rightfully ruled out. But then Spurs got a late equaliser which did have a bit more controversy around it, for offside yet again. As the build up to the spurs lad who scored was all perfectly fine, but it was rather that Kane was in an offside position when the shot was taken, and the ball just missed him, but was his blocking the keepers line of sight?
But VAR didn’t think he was, so awarded the goal, which in my view was the correct call seeing how Kane didn’t book the line of sight when the ball was first struck meaning that he didn’t impact the keepers ability to save the shot. The win for Wolves from this game has pretty much confirmed they’ll be staying up and was another one that had players that showed real desire and passion to make sure they got the result to stayed up, all of which we seem to lack right now! But for Tierney it was a pretty straight forward to officiate with both goals being perfectly fine with no real issues, although Wolves did also want a penalty for a supposed foul committed by the Brentford keeper. But this wasn’t given by Tierney and after VAR had a look, they backed the onfield decision and also turned down the wolves appeals. Which in my book was spot on, as there’s clearly not enough contact for it to be a pen, and the wolves lad causes just as much of it himself and on top of all that is going to ground before any contact is even made! So really the forward was lucky not to be cautioned for simulation, as him rolling around afterwards was just pathetic, even more so with the wolves boss having his usual pathetic moans about it. But still some good officiating yet again from VAR and Tierney. This game was another where I personally think another team had the nail put on the coffin for Leicester, who I think are fairly certain to be going down with us this season now, and it was Darren England who had this game. Although there wasn’t too much for him to do outside of the penalty to Man City, which was a clear handball and VAR rightfully got involved and sent him to the monitor to rightfully award a penalty to Man City for a clear handball. But Leicester did also have a half shout for a handball at the end of the game, but as the replays show it looked like it hit the rib, and even if it did strike the hand, it was right by his body and clearly in a natural position so nothing was rightfully awarded. After Arsenal dropping points last weekend, they really couldn’t afford to be dropping any more if they really did want any chance of winning the prem. But still they couldn’t beat West Ham this matchweek, which had David Coote in the middle for it, who did have a fair bit to do, which did have major affects on the scoreline. As Arsenals first 2 goals and West Ham’s second, were all perfectly valid with no controversies around them at all. But the same can’t be said for what happened afterwards, with West Ham’s first goal coming from the penalty spot for a clear foul by an Arsenal defender in the box, which was rightfully given by Coote and backed by VAR.
As I’ve seen a few people going on about it supposedly hitting Rice’s arm before the penalty, but to me it looks like it hits his chest and is certainly not clear and obvious, and the foul in the box may be “soft” but in todays game it’s a foul, and therefore a penalty. So overall a great game for Coote and VAR, getting all the major calls spot on and managing this game really well. Well most of our other games from this matchweek hasn’t had too much controversy in them, and no major howlers from VAR in anyones books, but even then, with every weekend there’s always that one game that has all the debatable decisions in them with all the controversy, and it seemed like this weekend it was this game that had all of that! And it all occurred in a very important game with Man U battling for a top 4 spot, whilst Forest are at the other end of the table battling against the likes of Leeds and Everton, to stay up. But this game had Hooper I’m the middle of it, who’s had some decent performances recently. But all the controversies started within the first 18 minutes with a penalty shout for Forest for a supposed handball against Maguire. This incidents an interesting one, as it does clearly strike Maguire’s arm, which is clearly sticking out, just like Antonio’s in the West Ham game. But the main difference between the two is the congestion between the players in the box, as Maguire and many others are grabbing one another around them, meaning that there’s almost more of an “excuse” to have his arm up there than Antonio did. Although for how far it was sticking up, and what has been given in the past, I do feel as if VAR should’ve probably given a penalty there, but at the same time I don’t see this as bad as some make it out to be, and can at least understand as to why VAR came to the conclusion it did. But for importance, it wasn’t just the fact of the penalty, but if it had been given it would’ve probably also been a cautioning to Maguire, who’d already received one, so would’ve been sent off for this offence if VAR had given it. Other than that, there wasn’t really much more for Hooper or VAR to do, as Man U’s second goal was perfectly fine and other than the handball in Indy there wasn’t too many more incidents for them to look at. So in the end an ok game for Hooper, but not the greatest one for VAR. Both Leeds and Liverpool have been having poor seasons, with Liverpool looking like they’ll be missing out on the champions league and Leeds down in the relegation scrap with Everton and Forest. So both teams were desperate for a win, but Liverpool got more than just a win with a right battering of Leeds, which I think this may be the biggest win we’ve had on referee watch since I started doing these posts. But for this game we had Craig Pawson in the middle for it. So the game started off with a major incident in the buildup to Liverpools first goal. As there was a supposed handball by Trent just before they went on to score the opener to this game, yet it was waved away by Pawson and then backed by VAR. But in my view they did mess up here, as Trent does move his arm towards the ball to control it, and intentional or not, it’s still in an unnatural position and really should’ve been ruled out for handball by VAR, who should’ve at the very least, sent Pawson to the monitor. But other than that there wasn’t too much more to look at with all the other 6 goals being perfectly valid, and no other major incidents or calls to look at. Well last week we had loads of controversy in many different games with an AR elbowing a ref to a fair few VAR mistakes, whilst this week we’ve managed to lower it to just 2 VAR mistakes in my book… but thankfully no linesman or match officials attacking or fending off any players (even if they deserved it!). Still though, 8 games they got all their major decisions spot on in my opinion, having 8 great displays compared 2 less so ones. But even then the Forest and Leeds games may both of had VAR mess ups, but there was only one in each and at least there was, to a certain degree, a slight understanding as to why VAR didn’t get involved for either. As the Forest one they were all grabbing and crowded so let him off for that, and the Liverpool one because it was only just sticking out… but still there’s still room for VAR to improve, and hopefully we can get a perfect matchweek from it next weekend with no major screw ups at all. So an ok week for VAR and the match officials getting most, but not all of their major decisions correct in this premier league matchweek. Although if anyone’s got any “out there” questions to ask, could always use some of them for future quiz questions. Q2= Team A are on the attack, a team B player starts pulling on his shirt. But the Team A forward carried on, so you play an advantage and allow play to continue, and by doing so a Team A player gets a chance so shoots, but it goes wide and doesn’t lead to a goal. Do you go back to discipline the Team B player, and if so, what do you give them? Q3= Team A score a goal, but just before you restart that game with a kick off to Team B, you realise that Team A have 12 players on the field of play and had 12 players when the goal was scored. What do you do now? Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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