Officially Speaking – with Keith Hackett

PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE PERFORMANCE REVIEW WEEK 15

SATURDAY 26TH DECEMBER 2020

LEICESTER CITY V MANCHESTER UNITED Result 2-2
Referee: Mike Dean. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Robert Jones. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Neil Davies.

Manchester United’s Rashford should have opened the scoring with an open goal but he put his header over the bar. He was then given a second chance midway through the first half and despatched it into goal.
Leicester City then opened their scoring with a shot from Harvey Barnes.

Martial scored but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside. VAR confirmed that the raised flag by the Assistant was correct. Fernandes put the away team into the lead after a pass from Cavani.
Then up popped Vardy with a goal, scoring the equaliser.

I’m delighted to say that Referee Mike Dean and his team had a good performance.

ASTON VILLA V CRYSTAL PALACE Result 3-0
Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Adam Nunn, James Mainwaring. Fourth official: Peter Bankes. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Simon Long

Aston Villa’s Traore opened the scoring given a free shot with Palaces defender’s missing. Grealish also had a big chance to score; he stayed on his feet and missed.

Shortly afterwards, there were screams by Palace players for a penalty. Referee Taylor was in an excellent position to judge and said ‘no’. VAR checked which frankly was unnecessary and confirmed that Taylor was correct.
Here was a typical example of why a silent check would have been sufficient. Frankly, Taylor had not made a clear and obvious error, so the VAR check was inappropriate.

A clash between Mings and Zaha was quickly resolved by Referee Taylor with both receiving yellow cards. Well done Taylor.
Tyrone Mings was later correctly shown a second yellow for unfair impeding his opponent followed by the red.

Aston Villa’s second goal was awarded thanks to goal-line technology indicating to Referee Taylor that the ball had crossed the line.

Villa’s third and final goal was a terrific strike from El Ghazi.

FULHAM V SOUTHAMPTON Result 0-0
Referee: Darren England. Assistants: Mark Scholes, Sian Massey-Ellis. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Jonathan Moss. Assistant VAR: Timothy Wood.

What concerns me is the over-indulgence by VAR. In this game, the referee was satisfied that no-handling offence had taken place. He had not made a clear and obvious error and a VAR check and stoppage was not required. The PGMOL have got to start working to the correct criteria of CLEAR AND OBVIOUS.

Southampton scored and the Assistant raised his flag to indicate offside. This can now be checked by the VAR who correctly confirms that the Assistant was correct. No Goal was given.

ARSENAL V CHELSEA Result 3-1
Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett. Fourth official: Stuart Attwell. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis.

When Michael Oliver (our top referee) is appointed to the big games, he raises his concentration and awareness. This was demonstrated when from the ideal viewing position, he awarded a penalty kick to Arsenal that opened the scoring for the home team.

Arsenal’s second came from a beautifully struck free-kick from Xhaka in the 44th minute.

Arsenal’s third goal in the 56th minute took everyone by surprise. A looping shot over the head of the Chelsea goalkeeper into the net.

A review on the Chelsea goal by VAR confirmed player not offside.

Well done to Referee Oliver and his team for delivering a quality performance.1

MANCHESTER CITY V NEWCASTLE UNITED Result 2-0
Referee: Andre Marriner. Assistants: Scott Ledger, Richard West. Fourth official: Andy Madley. VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes.
Manchester City opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a goal from Gundogan following an assist from Sterling.
De Bruyne then had a chance but his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper before Torres scored after the ball had come off a Newcastle player.

Referee Marriner will have been happy with his performance

SHEFFIELD UNITED V EVERTON Result 0-1
Referee: David Coote. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Nick Hopton. Fourth official: Martin Atkinson. VAR: Chris Kavanagh. Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday.

After several controversial incidents involving referee Coote, I am sure that he was looking for a performance without controversy.

VAR came into play to determine if a penalty kick should be awarded to Sheffield United. It correctly supported referee Coote’s decision to wave aside appeals.

Sigurdsson scored Everton’s winner in the 80th minute with a right footed shot from the centre of the penalty area, leaving Sheffield United still looking for their first win.

Referee Coote will be happier with this performance,

SUNDAY 27TH DECEMBER

LEEDS UNITED V BURNLEY 1-0
Referee: Robert Jones. Assistants: Darren Cann, Marc Perry. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: Michael Oliver. Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday.

I must say that I have not seen this referee on that many occasions. This was his third Premier League game season to date having officiated his first last season.

The Burnley manager has every right to feel aggrieved with the referee’s performance. Jones wrongly judged that a Burnley player had fouled the goalkeeper as he turned to power a shot into goal.
The early whistle ruled out any possible VAR review and the goal was disallowed.
Replays showed that the referee had got it wrong. If there was any offence, then the goalkeeper of Leeds United should have been penalised.

Referees at the Elite level must be athletic and possess good mobility skills but Jones looked lethargic and well off the pace. This is frankly unacceptable of any professional referee. Jones needs some good coaching and operational advice.

WEST HAM UNITED V BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION Result 2-2
Referee: Simon Hooper. Assistants: Eddie Smart, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Lee Mason. VAR: Andy Madley. Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday.

This was frankly a boring game of football played at a terribly slow pace. I guess the score was a fair one with Referee Hooper again looking like a referee with little or no pace.

LIVERPOOL V WEST BROMWICH ALBION Result 1-1
Referee: Kevin Friend. Assistants: Simon Beck, Adrian Holmes. Fourth official: Anthony Taylor. VAR: Martin Atkinson. Assistant VAR: Peter Kirkup.

The main talking point here was the tactics employed by Sam Allardyce to produce a result for his new club West Brom.
In the first half, they defended with everyone behind the ball. Liverpool managed to penetrate the defence once and scored by Mane.
The second half saw a change of tactics putting a player up front which resulted in securing a draw.

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