Officially Speaking – with Keith Hackett

I’m getting later and later with publishing this excellent article, and for that I’m very sorry. This week has been dominated with revising for a journalism exam that I am taking on Monday, so I haven’t got round to publishing it until now. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did! – Chris

PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE PERFORMANCE REVIEW MATCHWEEK 10

Saturday 30 October

Leicester City v Arsenal RESULT 0-2
Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Robert Jones. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis.

Michael Oliver was involved in an almost identical incident to the Laporte dismissal in the Manchester City v Crystal Palace game where Leicester City’s Johnny Evans wrestled Arsenals Aubameyang to the ground.
The DOGSO criteria were fulfilled and Evans should have received a red card. It was for me a rare major error by Oliver in this game.

When I coach referees on the application of this offence, I ask them to visualise the incident and to take away the player who committed the foul from the scene. Then they should ask themselves would the offended player have gained possession of the ball and able to have a shot on goal?

That would have been the case, without question when it came round to the incident with Aubameyang.

Burnley v Brentford RESULT 3-1
Referee: Jonathan Moss. Assistants: Marc Perry, Timothy Wood. Fourth official: Jeremy Simpson. VAR: Andy Madley. Assistant VAR: Richard West.

Sean Dyche was celebrating his ninth anniversary of managing Burnley – a remarkable statistic

Burnley opened the scoring in the 4th minute through Wood, who left the Brentford defence watching on.
They scored again but VAR rightly intervened and ruled it out.

Matt Lawton of Burnley headed in the second goal and then Cornet scored to give the home team a three-nil lead going in to the halftime break.

In the second half (which passed without ant controversy), Brentford scored a consolation goal through Ghoddos in the 79th minute.

Liverpool v Brighton and Hove Albion RESULT 2-2
Referee: Mike Dean. Assistants: Eddie Smart, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Chris Kavanagh. VAR: Kevin Friend. Assistant VAR: Simon Beck.

Salah delivered a wonderful pass to Henderson who scored in the 4th minute of the game. Mane then crossed the ball for Oxlade-Chamberlain to score by a brilliant header.

Mane and Salah had the ball in the back of the net either side of halftime, but both were correctly ruled out after VAR review. One was for handball and the other was offside.

This was an enjoyable encounter and Brighton never give up

Brighton scored through Mwepus and Trossard and were correctly denied the winner when Trossard scored in front of the Kop, only to correctly have it ruled out for offside.

Manchester City v Crystal Palace RESULT 0-2
Referee: Andre Marriner. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Scott Ledger. Fourth official: Anthony Taylor. VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin.

Andre Marriner was in charge of the Manchester City v Crystal Palace encounter. He witnessed the home team’s Aymeric Laporte wrestle Palace’s Wilfried Zaha to the ground in the 45th minute. It was a clear foul.
The referee (having made a mental note of the position of the offence, the movement of Zaha towards goal and at the time of the offence that Zaha was in control of the ball and no defenders able to put in a challenge) correctly raised the red card and sent Laporte off for the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
This was the correct application of the law and Manchester City can have no complaints about Marriners decision.

The law states: Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity
– Where a player denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a handball offence, the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs.
– Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g., holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.) the offending player must be sent off.
– A player, sent-off player, substitute or substituted player who enters the field of play without the required referee’s permission and interferes with play or an opponent and denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity is guilty of a sending-off offence.

The following must be considered:
•       distance between the offence and the goal
•       general direction of the play
•       likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball
•       location and number of defenders

The Manchester City manager approached fourth official Anthony Taylor clearly concerned about what he considered to be Crystal Palace time-wasting.

TIMEKEEPING
Law 5 – The referee acts as timekeeper

Newcastle United v Chelsea RESULT 0-3
Referee: Paul Tierney. Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Neil Davies. Fourth official: Martin Atkinson. VAR: David Coote. Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton.

Paul Tierney had a comfortable afternoon, maintaining a low profile and delivering another accurate performance.

Chelsea correctly had a goal ruled out for offside, but then went on to dominate play, scoring three goals through James (twice) and then Jorginho from the penalty mark.

Watford v Southampton RESULT 0-1
Referee: Peter Bankes. Assistants: Peter Kirkup, James Mainwaring. Fourth official: Keith Stroud. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn.

This was a close encounter, with new manager Claudio Ranieri beginning to make his mark on the Watford style of play.

However, the difference here was a terrific goal scored by Chez Adams which gave Southampton their first away win.

Watford thought that they may have scored but the Goal Line Technology kicked in and rightly determined that the whole of the ball had not crossed the line.

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United RESULT 0-3
Referee: Stuart Attwell. Assistants: Harry Lennard, Simon Long. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Darren England. Assistant VAR: Stuart Burt

This was a must-win game for Manchester United and they must have breathed a sigh of relief after Tottenham thought that they had opened the scoring, only to have it correctly ruled out for offside.

Then up popped Ronaldo to score the opening goal for Manchester United.

Ronaldo scored a second only to have it ruled out for offside.

Cavani scored United’s second goal and then Rashford scored their third after a VAR check.

Referee Attwell delivered another good performance and is now an established.

Sunday 31 October

Norwich City v Leeds United RESULT 1-2
Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Kevin Friend. VAR: Darren England. Assistant VAR: Simon Long.

The first half was frankly poor viewing and to his credit referee Taylor remained focussed and in control of proceedings.

In the 56th minute, Raphinha opened the scoring for Leeds. Norwich equalised Two minutes later through defender Andrew Omobamidele, who headed the goal from a corner kick.

Leeds United scored the winning goal through Rodrigo in the 60th minute, leaving Norwich staring relegation in the face so early in the season. They have only won two points from their first ten games.

Aston Villa v West Ham United RESULT 1-4
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Dan Cook, Nick Hopton. Fourth official: David Coote. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard.

The big talking-point for me in this game was how was the forearm smash by Aston Villa’s number 30 into the face of West Ham United’s Fornals was missed by both the referee and VAR Stuart Attwell. This was a violent act by Hause and he should have been dismissed.
This incident took place in the build-up prior to the award of a free kick and the issuing of a yellow card to Aston Villa’s Konsa, judged to have committed a foul on the edge of his own penalty area.
Kavanagh issued a yellow card and I believe that with the incident wide of goal and the ball moving away from goal that decision I would have supported. His decision to issue a yellow card was not a clear and obvious error so VAR should not have intervened.
However, we know that when a referee is asked to review the monitor invariably, they change their decision. Hause should have been the one walking to the tunnel and not Konsa.

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