Referee Watch With SFC Ref 10th April
Monday, 10th Apr 2023 10:16

It's been a bust week for referee's in the Premier League with a few controversial incidents, SFC Ref runs the rule over them and also gives his usual quiz on the laws of the game, read on to see whether he agrees with those making the decisions.

Well over the previous week we’d had 16 games without any major VAR controversies or decisions in which I thought they’d got wrong under the LOTG. But over those 16 games there hadn’t been too many major decisions to make anyway, with most of the games having no major decisions, and any that did occur being fairly blatant and the right decisions being made by the officials.

But I’m not sure if this weeks going to be the same, as we’ve had a lot more major decisions to discuss and more debatable ones occurring, which I know many fans may have split opinions over. But still it’s time to have a look at how the refs and match officials have been this weekend in the premier league.

Man United VS Everton (Michael Oliver)

This game was one of the very few to go our way as saints fans with Man U stopping Everton from getting ahead of us, and also was one of the few to have major decisions at all in it for VAR or the officials to get involved in. As both of Man U’s goals were perfectly fine, and outside of that there was no other major incidents for VAR or Oliver to get involved in, that occurred.

But that’s not to say that there wasn't any controversy at all around this game… As Michael Oliver is a clear Newcastle fan, yet his appointment to this game did create a lot of controversy from many Man U fans and the media in the build up to this weekends games.

As it’s a rule that you can never officiate your teams that you may be biased for or against as a ref in the pro leagues (aka EFL upwards, but also at lower levels (although the leagues look less into them at those levels)), which is why I’d never be able to ref any first team saints games or skate ones either, as I’d be biased, intentionally or not, meaning that I wouldn’t be officiating the game fairly.

But it’s not just those teams, but also ones that are important for them that they’re not involved in. So I probably wouldn’t be allowed to officiate any games that involved the likes of Leicester or Everton right now with us batting against them to stay up, as the results could affect saints chances of staying up and I may be biased to help them out.

Which is exactly why many weren’t too happy with Oliver’s appointment to this game, with both Newcastle and Man U battling for those champions league spots this season.

But in the end there thankfully wasn’t any signs of biased opinion, for or against Man U, in an attempt to help out Oliver’s Magpies. With a quiet but good game from Oliver and VAR.

Aston Villa VS Forest (Anthony Taylor)

This was probably the only other game of the weekend that went in saints’s favour with Vila stopping Forest from getting even further ahead of us. But for Taylor and VAR a pretty easy game, as Forest did have to go down to 10 men, but that was due to injuries and them having used all of their subs, and outside of that there was just both of Villa’s goals, which had no real controversy and rightfully standing. So a fairly easy game for VAR and Taylor.

Brentford VS Newcastle (Chris Kavanagh)

I don’t think many fans would’ve expected this game to be two teams battling out for European spots at the start of the season. But low and behold this is what we had in this game, as well as a fair bit for Kavanagh and VAR to get involved in.

As Brentford thought they’d got the lead through an early headed goal, but this one was ruled out by VAR for a fairly clear offside, and therefore rightfully didn’t stand.

But Brentford then had two penalty shouts in quick occurrence, with one being given for a blatant foul, given by Kavanagh and backed by VAR, and the other originally not being given, but after a VAR review was then given.

The first penalty decision was correct in my view, but the second one was a difficult one in my view. As with the angles that Kavanagh it wasn’t the clearest as to whether it was a pen or not, but then really the original decision of nothing shouldn’t be getting overturned then as it’s not clear and obvious.

So a mixed option there as it’s only with the new angles that we’ve seen after the game that we can clearly see that it’s not a penalty and simulation, which unfortunately Kavanagh didn’t have access to at the time.

But even with 2 penalties, Brentford could only score one, and Toney showed as to why not even he can do better than Le Tiss and have a 100% penalty record in the prem.

Newcastle then took the lead with two quick back to back goals, both of which with no controversies around them, and rightfully standing. Then later on on the second half, Newcastle thought they’d gone 3-1 up, but this goal was ruled out by VAR for a handball offence, as it had struck the hand of the forward just before he scored, which under the LOTG meant it couldn’t stand and VAR rightfully ruled out.

But still a fairly good game from Kavanagh and VAR, who got most of the major decisions correct in my view, and coming to the correct outcomes to most.

Fulham VS West Ham (Jarred Gillett)

A game in which the scoreline summed up very much of how much happened in this game. As outside of the goal there wasn’t much that happened in this game, with neither team playing that well, but West Ham unfortunately getting the one goal which got them even further ahead of us!

But still that one goal did still have some controversy around it, with their being a supposed handball just before it, which neither VAR or Gillett saw as enough for a foul to rule out the goal. But after watching the incident again, do feel as if they made a mistake here. As I’m fairly certain they didn’t give this and rule out the goal because it was played twice afterwards by Fulham defenders and it wasn’t intentional.

But for how soon before the goal it occurred, how unnatural of a position the hands were in, and how the Fulham players were hardly in control of the ball when playing them, it should’ve been given as a foul and the goal should’ve been ruled out.

So overall not too much to discuss in this game for VAR and Gillett, but for what did occur in major incidents, not the best game for the officials, and one in which they should’ve done better in.

Leicester VS Bournemouth (David Coote)

One of the other few game with very little controversy around them, yet one of the many that went against what many saints fans would’ve hoped for with Bournemouth going even further ahead of us. But for VAR and Coote it was a fairly easy and straight forward game for them, with no issues around Bournemouths goal, and no other major incidents occurring throughout this game. So in the end a decent performance from Coote and VAR, with the little they did have to do.

Spurs VS Brighton (Stuart Attwell)<

This was a game that I heard loads about on the controversial side of things on my way back from St Mary’s, so was very much interested in seeing whether the clowns on talksport actually had any points or not. As I always get so wound up when these so called pundits go on and talk about things that they know bugger all about and critics the res for getting the decisions correct under the LOTG!

But after seeing the highlights there was a fair bit to discuss. As there was an early shout for a Brighton penalty, but it was just a half short as it was never a penalty and rightfully waved away by Attwell and VAR. Spurs then scored which was perfectly fine, but just before half-time Brighton also did, it’s just there’s was ruled out for a handball, and in my view rightfully so.

As under the LOTG you can’t score a goal directly with your arms/directly after it strikes the arm, which is exactly what the Brighton forward did, which like in the Newcastle game, occurred just before he scored. So the goal was rightfully ruled out, as if that had been a defender I’m sure everyone would say that’s a pen.

As we headed into the second half, Brighton did then get one back, which had no real controversy around it, and rightfully stood. But Brighton then thought they’d taken the lead, but again had their goal ruled out for a handball offence.

And just like the one earlier in the game, had struck the hand of the Brighton forward before going directly into the goal, so under the LOTG was rightfully ruled out again. After this though both coaches got sent off, which presumably was for going for one another, which was all going on whilst the ball was in play and had been cooking up since before the game even started from what’s I’d heard.

Brighton then had another penalty shout, for a supposed foul on their striker for Hojberg stepping on his foot after a late challenge. This one for me is a blatant foul, and even I can’t comment on how/why VAR didn’t get the ref to go over and review this incident, as even I can’t defend this decision as it should’ve been a penalty to Brighton.

But that still wasn’t it, as Kane then scored to get what ended up being the winner, but also Brighton had another penalty shout. As this was for a supposed pull on Dunk, which again like the foul committed by Hojberg, I can’t really understand as to how VAR didn’t give this. As it’s a clear pull and the defenders got no intent to play the ball but simply to stop the spurs attacker, so again VAR should've gotten involved and at the very least sent Attwell to the monitor to review the footage.

So overall a poor game from VAR and Attwell, who got multiple major decisions both right and wrong. As yes I can understand why many aren’t happy with VAR for this game, but I’ve seen them also blamed for this game for decisions they did get correct, so even if many of these clowns were in the middle themselves, it’s not like they’d of got them all correct either!

Wolves VS Chelsea (Peter Bankes)

Again another quieter game from this weekend, although it still did have a little to discuss. As it was a fairly quiet and boring game for the football in general, and not just for the decisions from Bankes and VAR. As Wolves’s only goal sure was a great one, but had no real controversies around it, and other than that there wasn’t too much to discuss.

As other than that there was a half shout for a penalty for Chelsea for a supposed handball, but from the replays, it looks to strike the ribs, and even if it did strike the hand, it was certainly not intentional and was in a natural position, so was rightfully turned down by Bankes, who was rightfully backed by VAR.
Outside of that though there wasn’t really much more for VAR or Bankes to do, so a relaxed game for the officials, but still a good performance from them all.

Leeds VS Crystal Palace (Simon Hooper)

Well this games result wasn’t the most surprising, but the margins in which Palace won this game by sure was! As especially with Zaha out, I don’t think even the most optimistic or biased of Palace fans thought they were going to win this game 5-1, especially not with being 1-0 just before half time.

For this game though we had Hooper in the middle for it, who in my books, has been officiating really well this season and has been consistently getting his major decisions correct, which continued after this game. Although there weren’t really many for him to make anyway, with no major controversies at all in this game, with all 6 goals rightfully standing and no other major events occurring. So a decent game from VAR and Hooper who yet again did well in my books.

Liverpool VS Arsenal (Paul Tierney)

This was always going to be the big game of the weekend, with Arsenal battling for the title and Liverpool going for the champions league spots, with at least one teams hopes always going to damaged after this game. So this game was always going to be a major one for Tierney and one where he and VAR couldn’t afford to mess up.

But for them it was a quieter game, with all 4 goals being perfectly valid with no real controversies around any of them. Outside of that, there wasn’t too much more, as Liverpool did get awarded a penalty for a kick into the back of the Liverpool forward, which was rightfully awarded by Tierney and backed by VAR, although was then missed by Salah anyway.

But after this there wasn’t much more, with Liverpool having another optimistic penalty shout right at the end of the game for a supposed foul on Salah, but one that was never going to be given and was rightfully waved away by Tierney.

So overall, for what happened in the game, it was a good display off of Tierney and VAR, getting all their major decisions correct and managing the game well,

But as much as it was such a major game, as we’ve discussed, it didn’t have too much controversy around any major decisions from the regular 90 minutes, but rather what happened at half time. As like the replays show, Robertson was being his usual self and went over to the AR (assistant referee (aka lineman)) to start having a go at him for something, and does grab him. But in response to this, the AR raises his hand to get Robertson off of him. This leads to the AR’s elbow making the slightest of contact with Robertson’s face, but one which had minimal contact and extremely little force.

But the PGMOL have now announced they’ll be investigating into this, which is fair enough, although in my view nothing should be made of this incident. As if Robertson doesn't grab the AR in the first place then none of this happens! And I see many clowns going on about how it would be a red etc… if it was vice versa, but the major difference is that it wouldn’t happen vice versa in the first place as you’d not see a ref scream at and grab a player in the first place, meaning the player wouldn’t have any right to shrug them off anyway!

So hopefully the PGMOL don’t do anything major, as I’m now hearing rumours that if they do take any action, that certainly referee groups may back Constantine Hatzidakis (the AR) and do some interesting things if he’s punished for this…

But still it’s certainly not often you get this much controversy around the officials for things that aren’t related to the decisions they made during the game!

Weekly conclusion + LOTG quiz

Well it’s certainly not been as good of a weekend as last week! As this weekend there’s been 3 out of 10 games, that had VAR and officiating mistakes in them, with 2 of those 3 games’s VAR mistakes affecting the results to these games. And out of these 3 games there were 4 mistakes, with maybe 1 or 2 being kind of understandable as to how they made these mistakes, but still it does need to be better under VAR, as these mistakes really weren’t the best.

But still that’s not just to say that it’s all poor, as last matchweek we had 16 games with no major mess ups at all, so we’ve now had 3 of 26 games with them, which is just over 1 every 9 games, which is basically 1 every matchweek, which still isn’t perfect and could be better, but also isn’t the worst in the world and isn’t as bad as many are making it out to be. As I do get quite wound up when everyone highlights just the poor displays and not the good ones from the officials/VAR, and on top of that how they look at all refs as one, even though I’d you look at who’s doing what for all the major controversies, there certainly are patterns.

But still as I’ve previously said, when all that people do is complain and abuse refs, what do people expect them to be like with quality? As all the abuse and stick they receive only puts off more and more from being a ref, as well as making more quit and more grassroots coaches/players/parents abuse refs as well.
And with that, we get let refs, with less refs we get less quality officiating, and with less quality we get more mistakes, and with more mistakes we just get more abuse towards officials. And this loop just keeps going round and round, where until people start crediting officials more when they do, do well, and actually knowing the LOTG themselves, then it’s not going to get better any time soon.

But we’ve also had a very weird, but yet interesting week for controversy off of the pitch with officials as well as ones on the pitch. With all the controversy of Michael Oliver’s appointment as well as Constantine Hatzidakis altercations with Robertson. One of which thankfully didn’t lead to any major issues or incidents, whilst the other lead to a fair bit and will be very interesting to see what happens next and to see if the PGMOL back their employees or not…

But still certainly a very interesting week for referee watch, and one in which I don’t think we’ll get another like it for some time now.

But now it’s time for this gameweeks questions, which like usual, I’ll post the answers to just before the next post is done…
Although if anyone’s got any “out there” questions to ask, could always use some of them for future quiz questions.

Q1= As we said last week, there’s 7 things you can be sent off for under the LOTG, but what are those 7 things?

Q2= A Team A defender intentionally passes the ball back to the keeper. But the pass is poor, and a Team B attacker starts running onto the pass. But the keeper sees this so quickly just to get the ball and intentionally picks it up in his own penalty area to prevent the attacker from getting their first and denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity with this. What do you give now as restart and disciplinary action, if anything, for this?

Q3= A goalkeeper intentionally handles the ball outside his box, but doesn’t prevent any promising attacks or DOGSO’s by doing so. So you aware the free kick, but what’s disciplinary action, if any, do you give against the keeper for intentionally handling the ball?

So like usual, always feel free to add you opinions to my conclusions, and your answers to my quiz. Thanks

Photo: Action Images via Reuters