Officially Speaking with Keith Hackett

REVIEW OF REFEREE PERFORMANCES IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE

Saturday 30 November Newcastle United 2 – 2 Manchester City
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistants: Sian Massey-Ellis, Gary Beswick
Fourth Official: Oliver Langford
VAR: Andre Marriner
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday

Fernandinho was on a yellow card and committed a second offence. He was lucky to remain on the field of play.  In my opinion, Referee Kavanagh was too lenient on this foul challenge. I would still like to see more dynamic movement from the referee who needs to work on his dynamic sprinting speeds rather than at times been caught flat-footed losing valuable yards on quick break-outs.

Saturday 30 November Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistants: Adam Nunn, Neil Davies
Fourth official: Geoff Eltringham
VAR: Anthony Taylor
Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton

Referee Bankes had a rare outing in the league for this game. Palace had the ball in the net but the delayed flag by the Assistant resulted in the ‘goal’ been rightly disallowed for offside. Crystal Palace went into the lead with a legitimate goal later in the first half and won 2-0.

Saturday 30 November Chelsea 0-1 West Ham United
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Marc Perry, Eddie Smart
Fourth Official: Stephen Martin
VAR: Andy Madley
Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton

An early intervention of VAR was brought about following appeals by Chelsea for a penalty-kick. A review and correct decision to turn the appeals down was then made.
West Ham scored a second goal and VAR correctly ruled out the goal for handball. I believe that Referee Moss and VAR Andy Madley can be happy with their performances in this game. 

Saturday 30 November Liverpool 2-1 Brighton and Hove Albion
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Lee Betts, Daniel Cook
Fourth Official: David Coote
VAR: Craig Pawson
Assistant VAR: Andy Garratt

This was yet another very good performance from Referee Atkinson. He made the correct decision to send off the Liverpool goalkeeper for a handling offence outside the penalty area for the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk who scored both the home team goals produced another outstanding performance at the back.
The main talking-point from the above game is that Brighton’s goal should not have been allowed. When the Liverpool defending wall was formed it had three or more players and there were Brighton attackers were standing in the wall. This is contrary to law and therefore the goal should never have stood.

Saturday 30 November Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Bournemouth
Referee: Lee Mason
Assistants: Scott Ledger, Mark Scholes
Fourth Official: Stuart Attwell
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis

Lee Mason was in charge of this game and credit must go to him for demonstrating an improvement in his mobility around the field of play. It was good to see him prepared to work the penalty area-to-penalty area diagonal, giving him some better viewing angles on challenges inside the penalty area. Tottenham had the ball in the net for a second time, but after a VAR review it was correctly ruled out for accidental handball that hit the Spurs players arm before ending up in the back of the net.

Saturday 30 November Southampton 2-1 Watford
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Graham Scott
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday

The main talking point in this game was the fact that the VAR missed a clear handball in the lead up to Southampton’s goal that should not have counted. A review by the PGMOL management is required to ensure that the appropriate footage is available in future. The referee Michael Oliver will be disappointed that the handball was not flagged up. It was a game-changing error, one that resulted in a loss for Watford and the eventual dismissal of the Watford Head Coach.

Sunday 1 December Norwich City 2 – 2 Arsenal
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Harry Lennard
Fourth official: Gavin Ward
VAR: Michael Oliver
Assistant VAR: Neil Davies

Referee Tierney was in a terrific position to detect and penalise a handball offence by Christoph Zimmermann and correctly awarded a penalty kick. VAR  reviewed and confirmed that the Referee was correct. Tim Krul the Norwich City goalkeeper at the taking of the kick prematurely left his goal line and a re-take was ordered after he had made the save. Arsenal were given a second chance and this time their striker Aubameyang made no mistake.
The referee did well to caution the Norwich City goalkeeper for adopting delaying tactics before the kick was taken.

Norwich City broke away after conceding and went 2-1 up. There was a good talking-point here when Arsenal scored their second goal because there was a second ball thrown into the penalty area.

The law states that an extra ball, other object or animal enters the field of play during the match, the referee must:
* Stop play (and restart with a dropped ball) only if it interferes with play unless the ball is going into the goal and the interference does not prevent a defending player playing the ball, the goal is awarded if the ball enters the goal (even if contact was made with the ball) unless the interference was by the attacking team
* Allow play to continue if it does not interfere with play and have it removed at the earliest possible opportunity

The officials were satisfied that the second ball had not interfered with play.
Arsenal’s new Interim Manager Freddie Ljungberg has some work to do on Arsenal’s defence.

Sunday 1 December Wolves 1 – 1 Sheffield United
Referee: David Coote
Assistants: Peter Kirkup, Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Martin Atkinson
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan

Sheffield United took the lead in this game with less than a minute played the away team. Wolves pulled level later on in the second half. I think that Referee David Coote can be satisfied with his performance.

Sunday 1 December Leicester City 2- 1 Everton
Referee: Graham Scott
Assistants: Richard West, Simon Long
Fourth Official: Jonathan Moss
VAR: Simon Hooper
Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes

This referee projects stature and presence on the field of play. He was ideally positioned when pointing to the penalty mark. VAR Simon Hooper intervened and correctly judged that there was no contact and therefore the penalty-kick decision should be overturned. Leicester’s Chilwell at this point should have received a yellow card for an act of simulation. It is this type of decision where the referee should be allowed to review the incident on the pitch-side monitor to ‘sell’ the decision. The review showed that there was no contact and this type of incident highlights how difficult it is for referees when players go to ground so easily. With seconds to go Leicester City scored but the Assistant Referee had raised his flag for offside. His raising of the flag is against the protocol and Leicester were fortunate that referee Scott was alert and allowed play to continue, allowing the Leicester player putting the ball into the back of the net. VAR came into play and correctly ruled that the attacker was onside and the goal stood. It was a huge decision that lead to Leicester winning the game. Overall, there was good use of VAR in this game.

Sunday 1 December Manchester United 2 – 2 Aston Villa

Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Ian Hussin, Darren Cann
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Kevin Friend
Assistant VAR: Stephen Child

Craig Pawson’s last Premier League game was 6^th October having been overseas operating as VAR in the Under 17 FIFA World Cup. Grealish scored a terrific goal early in the game putting Villa into the lead. Aston Villa had the ball in the net for a second ‘goal’ only for it to be ruled out correctly for offside by top Assistant Referee Darren Cann.
United equalised with a goal from Rashford and then took a 2-1 but Villa equalised through Mings following a VAR check.

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