Officially Speaking – with Keith Hackett
PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE APPOINTMENTS WEEK 17
14th and 15th December 2019
Saturday 14 December Liverpool 2-0 Watford
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistants: Scott Ledger, Simon Long
Fourth official: David Coote
VAR: Jonathan Moss
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS ISSUED | NUMBER OF RED CARDS ISSUED |
| 10 | 23 | 2 |
Yet another manager takes over the role at Watford. We wish Nigel Pearson all the best after taking on what appears to be the impossible task to retain Watford’s Premier League status. Salah opened the scoring with a great finish. Mane scored a wonderful header and yet again we witnessed the abject nonsense of lines been drawn on the screen to rule the goal out. We need to bin the lines and let the VAR act upon the pictures before him until the technical equipment meets the same exacting standards of the goal line technology.
Marriner is one of our most experienced officials but he witnesses Salah been wrestled to the ground and applies a rather poor and risky advantage. Nothing materialised and instead of penalising the original offence on Salah and bringing play back, he does nothing. This is sloppy and very poor officiating. Please remember that possession of the ball after an offence does not always enable an advantage to be applied. The second goal was checked for offside and this time the goal was awarded.
Saturday 14 December Burnley 1 – 0 Newcastle United
Referee: Tim Robinson
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Kevin Friend
Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes
| FIRST APPOINTMENT |
There is never an easy time to officiate your first Premier League game. The SG1 group clearly need to increase and have an appropriate succession plan in operation.
Robinson’s indecision in awarding a corner kick diminished his authority and put doubt in the mind of Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce. It was a corner kick and the decision needed to be “sold” in a much more positive manner as the referee was in an excellent position. We then witnessed an aerial challenge by Newcastle United’s Andy Carroll. He clearly used his arm illegally against his opponent and should have received a red card and not the yellow that was shown. Where was VAR to correct what was a clear and obvious error by the referee?! The challenge warranted a red card.
Saturday 14 December Chelsea 0 – 1 Bournemouth
Referee: Graham Scott
Assistants: Neil Davies, Derek Eaton
Fourth official: Darren Bond
VAR: Simon Hooper
Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 9 | 24 | 3 |
I wonder why the simple law requirement on shirt colours is often ignored in the Premier League.
Referee Scott officiated Saturday’s game in a bright yellow shirt clashed with the Chelsea goalkeeper’s jersey which was also yellow.
The law states that the two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and the match officials and also that each goalkeeper must wear colours that are distinguishable from the other players and the match officials.
We had a VAR intervention after the Assistant flagged offside, the ball and the ball entered the goal. VAR correctly judged that the Bournemouth player was NOT offside and Bournemouth won 1 – 0.
Saturday 14 December Leicester City 1 – 1 Norwich City
Referee: Andy Madley
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Beck
Fourth official: Matt Donohue
VAR: Mike Dean
Assistant VAR: Stephen Child
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 3 | 8 | 0 |
It was good to see the under-worked Referee Andy Madley had been appointed to a game. A run of appointments gets him used to the pace of the Premier League and helps to build his confidence on and off the pitch.
Norwich opened the scoring with a well-worked goal. There was an incident when two opposing players challenged for the ball and ended up on the floor.
The mood of the game changed after a throw-in taken by Leicester was not returned to the opposition. The Leicester player who retained the ball was brought down and we witnessed a mass confrontation. Leicester’s Cantwell was shown a yellow card and Zimmerman of Leicester should have also received a yellow for his reckless challenge.
Leicester City equalised but we did see an incorrect re-start as the ball was well out of the corner quadrant. Yet again, the Law was not managed effectively on this occasion by the Assistant.
Saturday 14 December Sheffield United 2 – 0 Aston Villa
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistants: Peter Kirk up, Nick Hopton
Fourth official: John Busby
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: Stuart Burt
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 3 | 11 | 0 |
Referee Peter Bankes was in the middle after his recent excellent supporting-decisions when acting has VAR in a recent game. One aspect of his performance that is a concern is that he puts the brakes on and stops his run 10 yards short of the penalty area. This leaves him detached from play and vulnerable to missing incidents. He needs to be able to squeeze play and be prepared to enter the penalty area if needs be. He was walking at times when he should have been either jogging or sprinting.
One good thing of note was that Bankes held his gaze well to detect and correctly issue a yellow card to a Villa player.
His failure to squeeze play later in the game resulted in him waving away Villa’s claims for a penalty kick. Fortunately, VAR intervened and a penalty kick was correctly awarded. Grealish hit his penalty-kick against the crossbar. In my opinion however, a re-take should have been ordered due to United’s goalkeeper leaving his line prematurely.
Saturday 14 December Southampton 0 – 1 West Ham United
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Lee Betts, Daniel Cook
Fourth official: Robert Jones
VAR: Jonathan Moss
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 14 | 41 | 2 |
West Ham United had the ball in the back of the net in the opening minute of the game, only to see it correctly ruled offside by the Assistant Referee. VAR then intervened after the away team were appealing for a penalty kick. The review by VAR was correct to say no penalty kick.
West Ham scored with the home team players thinking that the ball had crossed the goal line. The Assistant was in a terrific position to say it had not and VAR supported that call. West Ham scored a second but again VAR correctly ruled it out following a handball offence by the West Ham player who put the ball in the net.
Sunday 15 December Manchester United 1 – 1 Everton
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Kevin Friend
VAR: Craig Pawson
Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 13 | 48 | 0 |
Michael Oliver will be delighted with his performance in this game. He reads the game extremely well and by using his cognitive skills, he moves into good viewing positions that deliver the viewing angles to make accurate decisions.
The one talking-point was the aerial challenge for the ball between Everton’s Calvert-Lewin and Manchester United’s goalkeeper De Gea.
The goalkeeper palmed the ball onto a colleague who deflected it into the goal. VAR checked to see if Calvert-Lewin had used his left arm illegally. The answer was that there was no offence and Everton’s goal was correctly allowed.
One free kick that concerned me was when a wall of players was formed and the attacking players were less than the required one yard away when the kick was taken.
Sunday 15 December Wolves 1 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Dan Robathan, Darren Cann
Fourth official: Simon Hooper
VAR: David Coote
Assistant VAR: Stephen Child
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 8 | 29 | 1 |
This was the fifth game in fifteen days for Wolverhampton. They certainly played well but it was Spurs who came out the winners in a game played at pace and was well officiated by referee Stuart Attwell.
This referee’s movement patterns and turn of pace really do put him in good viewing positions. He played a terrific advantage for Spurs only to see the shot on goal hit the post.
Wolves equalised in the second half playing some good football in front of their supporters. Spurs were no angels committing a number of yellow card offences which received the appropriate sanction. Spurs won the game in added time.
Sunday 15 December Arsenal 0 – 3 Manchester City
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Harry Lennard
Fourth official: Andre Marriner
VAR: Chris Kavanagh
Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
| NUMBER OF PREMIER LEAGUE APPOINTMENTS | NUMBER OF YELLOW CARDS | NUMBER OF RED CARDS |
| 12 | 36 | 0 |
I am delighted to say that this is one referee who has to date delivered some excellent performances this season. He fully deserved this appointment. Once again, he produced a good performance in what was a one-sided game with the highlight of a spectacular strike by Kevin De Bruyne who is in excellent form.
Manchester City are also prepared to foul to prevent the opposition making progress. Referee Tierney was alert to this and when appropriate, issued cautions for unsporting behaviour.
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