Officially Speaking - with Keith Hackett

Officially Speaking – written by Keith Hackett

It’s Monday and Guest Writer Keith Hackett once again reviews the weekend’s Premier League games for Far Post Header.

Friday

Southampton vs Leicester City

Referee: Andre Marriner

Sadly the referee failed to detect an excessive-force challenge by Bertrand of Southampton on a Leicester City player with referee Marriner allowing play to continue and Leicester City scored.
The VAR referee Mike Dean intervened and correctly advised the referee to dismiss Bertrand.

The performance of the Southampton players was shocking and the game ended with Leicester City equalling the Premier League record by scoring nine goals.

Saturday

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Everton

Referee: Andy Madley

I was disappointed by the VAR intervention in this game (wrongly in my opinion) advising the referee to award a penalty kick. Replays at normal speed clearly showed that no offence had been committed.
I am clear that this incident should have been reviewed by the referee at the pitch-side monitor. I would have expected him to have overruled VAR on this one.

Burnley vs Chelsea

Referee: Michael Oliver

Our top referee produced another good performance.
The only talking point was of his award of a penalty kick which after VAR was correctly overturned, the Chelsea player was rightly cautioned for an act of simulation (or diving to you and me!).

Manchester City vs Aston Villa

Referee: Graham Scott

It’s amazing that a goal was still allowed to stand after the VAR check as Sterling was in an offside position. I would have expected the complete opposite as Sterling was standing in an offside position in the path of the goalkeeper and the ball was last played by Silva.
VAR was wrong on that one.

Fernandinho can have no complaints about receiving two yellow cards which resulted in his dismissal.

West Ham United vs Sheffield United

Referee: David Coote

A solid performance by the referee who controlled the game without incident. Coote continues to grow in confidence, is fast becoming a safe pair of hands and is one of our better officials.

Watford vs Bournemouth

Referee: Mike Dean

After operating as VAR in the Southampton vs Leicester City game on Friday night and producing an excellent performance in the Sheffield United game a few days earlier, this busy official was back in the middle for this encounter!

The game produced a no-score draw and I’m delighted to report that I thought Mike Dean produced another very good performance.

Sunday

Sunday’s fixtures in the Premier League resulted in more chaos surrounding VAR.

I have been stating for months that the PGMOL (the organisation responsible for referees operating in the Premier League) must change how they are operating the system.

The advice by PGMOL given to referees not to view the pitch-side monitors is evident and is sadly against the International Football Association Board (the law makers).

Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur

Referee: Anthony Taylor

There were calls for offside when Kane scored for Spurs. VAR replays showed that the shot on goal by Kane’s colleague had been deliberately headed onto the crossbar and rebounded to Kane whose goal was correctly allowed.

Referee Anthony Taylor was ideally positioned later on in the game to award a penalty kick to Liverpool. The VAR check game the thumbs-up to the decision.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

Referee: Martin Atkinson

In this game Martin Atkinson was in a great position and ruled that Zaha of Crystal Palace dived and issued him with a yellow card.

VAR reviewed the incident and correctly overturned the yellow card and awarded the penalty kick.

However, with the score at 2-2, Arsenal put the ball into the net. There was a review by VAR but it was wrong to rule out the goal. If there was an offence then it was Cahill of Crystal Palace who pushed his opponent.

The big talking point was the substitution of the Arsenal captain Xhaka to boos ringing around the stadium by the home supporters.

Norwich City vs Manchester United

Referee:

Stuart Attwell was in a terrific position to wave aside penalty kick appeals and once again VAR intervened. Unbelievably it awarded the penalty kick!

This was a huge error that in my opinion would have been avoided if the referee had taken a look for himself at the pitch-side monitor.

Newcastle United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Referee: Kevin Friend

The only thing of note from this game was that referee Kevin Friend was ideally positioned to correctly dismiss Longstaff of Newcastle for his challenge that used excessive force.

Keith Hackett

www.keystoreferee.com