Officially Speaking – with Keith Hackett

REFEREE PERFORMANCE REVIEW WEEK 4 PREMIER LEAGUE

The new ‘Lighter Touch’ rule continues and the Week 4 games saw some good quality officiating performances after the international break.

The PGMOL are making use of the inform most experienced referees’ season to date.
Out of the pool of twenty referees, fifteen have been appointed to take charge of games so far this season. Oliver, Taylor and Tierney have officiated four games to date and are delivering top class performances. Atkinson, Attwell, Coote, Dean, Pawson and Moss have three games each.

The four new referees promoted have still to be appointed to referee a Premier League game this season.

Manchester United v Newcastle United
Referee: Taylor

On his return to Old Trafford, Ronaldo has created a buying spree with record sales for his replica shirt. The Portuguese opened his goal scoring with a simple tap in thanks to his vision, anticipation and movement. The crowd went into raptures and brought a huge grin on Sir Alex Ferguson’s face.

Newcastle hit back scoring an equaliser after a run from deep before the returning Manchester United legend scored his second after an explosive run and hit his shot into the back of the net.

The goal of the game and Manchester United’s winning goal was a shot from Fernandes. Linguard scored the fourth in what was a terrific game.

Referee Taylor was brilliant. His movement and positioning first class. He is moving to the left of the penalty area giving him some good viewing angles.

Well, done Anthony Taylor

Immediate post-match interviews are carried out by broadcasting companies. The position where it takes place is in line with the Chief Security Officer and Police Ground Commander approval. Areas inside the stadium ARE ALLOCATED FOR THE Post Match press interviews.

Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur
Referee: Jon Moss

When Palace’s Zaha made a run down the left wing in possession of the ball, he was charged to the ground by an illegal use of the shoulder. Zaha’s over-reacting brought a mass confrontation. Spurs Tanganga was correctly shown the yellow.
Shortly after the same Spurs player put in a reckless challenge that rightly saw him receive his second yellow followed by a red. Here was an example of how the ‘lighter touch’ by referees requires players to not over.

The illegal challenge by Tottenham’s Tanganga on Zaha was unacceptable and at that point his foul fully deserved a yellow card. I would have liked the Referee with the confrontation involving other players to have blasted his whistle, Zaha’s response also merited a yellow card.
The confrontation by the two teams will be on the special incident report of the referee.

The challenge that resulted in Tanganga receiving a second yellow card was harsh and, in my opinion, not reckless. The award of a free kick under the ‘lighter touch’ approach would have been appropriate and red card avoided. You will Appreciate that VAR cannot come in on a yellow card offence.

We then witnessed a good piece of teamwork from the officials. Moss could not see the deliberate handball, but his Assistant did, and flagged. A penalty kick awarded and Palace broke the deadlock.

New signing Edouard scored two terrific goals and delivered what Palace had been looking for – a deserved win.

Well done Jon Moss and his team.

Chelsea v Aston Villa
Referee: Stuart Attwell

Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring then Kovacs made it two after a pass back by an Aston Villa player to his goalkeeper was intercepted. Lukaku scored Chelsea’s third for a comfortable win.

I thought that Tyrone Mings was guilty of poor defending that allowed Chelsea to score.

Attwell is a fit and mobile referee and has made a good start to his season. He gave a solid performance.

Arsenal v Norwich
Referee Michael Oliver

Pepe of Arsenal hit the post twice with Aubameyang reading the situation well scoring the opening goal. Norwich protested but the scorer was behind the ball and not offside when he gained possession.
The Norwich manager complained after the match claiming a handball in the build-up. I thought that the officials were correct.

Arsenal were deserved winners and I think it is going to be a tough season for Norwich.

The goal scored by Aubameyang was not offside and I thought that the claims of a handball by Norwich manager in the build up to to the goal were ill-founded.

Law 5 states that the time-keeping is the responsibility of the referee. I would like to see an independent timekeeper at the elite level of the game.

Leicester City v Manchester City
Referee: Paul Tierney

Manchester City were quick out of the blocks, closing Leicester down on every occasion.
Vardy had the ball in the back of the net and it was ruled out for offside. There was no VAR nonsense and delay as it was a quick call by VAR and referee. This is how VAR should operate. It is much better.

Later on, Silva scored the only goal of the game.

Tierney was excellent, maintaining a low-key and effective approach with some excellent movement.

The law states clearly that there should be clear identification of both teams, goalkeepers and match officials. In my opinion, it was unacceptable that Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel and the referee were both wearing yellow.

Watford v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Referee: Peter Bankes

There were some good saves by the Watford goalkeeper in this game and player discipline was good. Wolves’ first goal was an own goal by Watford’s Sierralta and was followed by a goal from Heang Hee-Chan.

Well done Peter Bankes – another fine performance.

Brentford v Brighton & Hove Albion
Referee: Graham Scott

Danny Welbeck missed a good chance early in the game for the visitors. Brentford had plenty of chances in the first half Mbeuma missing scoring chances.
Trossard of Brighton scored the winning goal in the 90th minute of an evenly contested game.

Referee Scott can be happy with his game. Despite doing some dynamic sprinting, as a referee he was adrift of play at times and this will catch him out in future games if he doesn’t work on your explosive sprinting.

Southampton v West Ham United
Referee: David Coote

Coote played a terrific advantage in the second half that nearly resulted in a goal. He later applied another advantage and did well to hold his gaze and detect a further offence when Stevens grabbed hold of Antonio, who then responded by throwing his opponent to the ground.

Antonio received two yellow cards in this game and can have no complaints when he was dismissed. Coote might have considered a straight red for Antonio but on balance I support the referee’s action.

A good performance by Referee Coote.

LEEDS UNITED V LIVERPOOL
REFEREE: CRAIG PAWSON

A terrific first half saw the score 0-1 to Liverpool. Mo Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal.
Liverpool did have the ball in the net for a second time, but it was correctly ruled out for offside. I still worry about the delayed flag raising the risk of potential player injury.

Referee Pawson is looking more mobile in his games this season, although he missed a handball by Harvey Elliott. That did not go down well with the Leeds United fans!

Three players were cautioned in the first half and none of them have cause for complaint. Liverpool dominated play but failed to take all their chances.

The main talking point of the game centred around a foul challenge by Leeds United’s Struijk in the 60th minute.
He was chasing down Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot when he challenged from behind. The outcome of the challenge was sadly an horrific ankle injury for the young player.
The first action by the referee is to get the medical team onto the field of play quickly. Whilst the player was been treated there was a conversation between Klopp and the Referee on the field of play. The fourth official and in fairness the Referee both had a good view of this challenge.

There appeared to be an indication by Pawson that the incident was been reviewed by VAR because he pointed to his earpiece. That process would be wrong because up to this point Pawson had not indicated any sanction. The red card came out and the Leeds player was sanctioned. Whilst football is a contact sport players have a duty of care towards each other. Will Leeds United appeal the sanction? If so, on what grounds? The outcome of the challenge was a serious injury, so the challenge clearly endangered the safety of the opponent – hence the red card issued.

Comment:
We are into the fourth week of the season and the referees are fit, mobile and applying excellent work rate.
There is a clear change of movement in the games from the referees who are moving out more to the left-hand edge of the penalty area and gaining good viewing angles.

The fitness and risk of fatigue later in the season must be considered and again we need to see our top referees not having to drive so much to Stockley Park. OLIVER and TAYLOR in particular, and of course we need to bin the idea of them operating as fourth officials. I also believe that the PGMOL should be working towards an independent panel of VARs.

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