Officially Speaking – with Keith Hackett

PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE PERFORMANCE REVIEW WEEK 5

SATURDAY 17TH OCTOBER

EVERTON V LIVERPOOL RESULT 2-2
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Paul Tierney
VAR: David Coote
Assistant VAR: Lee Betts

There were three major talking points in this Merseyside derby.
The first asked the biggest question and that was how did the Referee and VAR allow an horrendous challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford go unpunished?
Pickford launched himself off the ground two feet first and in a scissor action, clearly used excessive force and endangered the safety of his opponent Virgil van Dijk. The two officials appear to have put their focus on an offside decision in the build-up and completely ignored this far more important incident that should have resulted in Pickford receiving a red card.

Incident Two: I have written in this weekly article on many occasions that the offside technical equipment is flawed with camera speeds are not quick enough.
When you review the freeze frame of the offside call, the VAR again managed to get this major call wrong with Liverpool’s winning goal getting chalked off.
Claims that the shoulder was the part of the body that was offside are frankly an abject nonsense.
To the match officials and the PGMOL, I remind you that when a player is level with his opponent, he is ONSIDE.

Incident Three: Everton’s Richarlson was shown a red card, this decision was correct. Referee Oliver can feel aggrieved that once again David Coote (his VAR) has let him down.

CHELSEA V SOUTHAMPTON RESULT 3-3
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistants: Darren Cann, Mark Scholes
Fourth official: Martin Atkinson
VAR: Mike Dean
Assistant VAR: Peter Kirkup

Chelsea had the ball in the net, but it was correctly ruled out for offside. The flag was raised and there was no need for a VAR review.
Chelsea soon after scored with a lovely goal from Timo Werner who minutes later scored a second. I cannot understand why VAR Mike Dean did not advise Referee Bankes to view the monitor. The Chelsea player handled the ball to propel it forward before scoring.
In the build up to the second goal there was a clear handling offence. Surprisingly, there was no VAR intervention. The goal should have been disallowed.

Southampton scored through Ings and then Chez Adams scored after a chaotic piece of defending by Chelsea who then responded scoring a third goal.
Theo Walcott (on his return to Southampton) put in some good runs and crosses and scored the equaliser from a shot directed into goal by a colleague.

It was a very good performance by Referee Peter Bankes who continues to deliver some solid performances,

MANCHESTER CITY V ARSENAL RESULT 1-0
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistants: Sian Massey-Ellis, Constantine Hatzidakis
Fourth official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday

Raheem Sterling scored the one and only goal after some excellent build-up play by the home team.
However, I was concerned that no action was taken by the referee when Sergio Aguero placed his hands on assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis when disputing a decision. This action that should have resulted in an appropriate sanction.
I believe that the Referee was wrong to not take action over the incident as it sends the wrong message to players at grassroots level

NEWCASTLE UNITED V MANCHESTER UNITED RESULT 1-4
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Richard West, Adrian Holmes
Fourth official: Oliver Langford
VAR: Lee Mason
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday

Newcastle United opened the scoring with a deflection from Manchester’s Luke Shaw leaving his own goalkeeper stranded on the line.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes struck and scored but this was correctly ruled out after Manchester’s Mata was in an offside position when playing the ball back to Fernandes. This was the correct decision by the officials.

Harry Maguire has had a recent run of poor form and of course shown a red card in his last outing when playing for England. He rewarded the faith of his manager by opening Manchester United’s scoring with a hard-hit header.

Craig Pawson was in a good position and took no action when Rashford was fouled in the penalty area. VAR intervened, correctly judging that a serious and obvious error had been made. Pawson reviewed the incident on the pitch side monitor and returned to the field of play and awarded a penalty kick –the correct decision. However, Bruno Fernandes had his penalty kick saved.

Fernandes quickly made up for his failure to score from the penalty mark with a terrific strike into the top corner of the net. United from that point dominated the remainder of the game running out 4-1 winners.

SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2020

SHEFFIELD UNITED V FULHAM   RESULT 1-1
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistants: Simon Long, Eddie Smart
Fourth official: Michael Salisbury
VAR: Martin Atkinson
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday

A rather dull draw with both teams defences on top. Fulham’s Mitrovic was at the centre of the action for the wrong things.
He fired a penalty kick over the bar and into the stands. To compound his misery, he gave away a penalty kick after been correctly adjudged to have fouled Jack Robinson. Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp stepped up and secured the equaliser.

CRYSTAL PALACE vs BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION RESULT 1-1
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Neil Davies, Marc Perry
Fourth official: Lee Mason
VAR: Kevin Friend
Assistant VAR: Simon Beck

Referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the penalty mark after judging a foul on a Palace player. I have looked at the replay of this incident and Attwell got it wrong. Tariq Lamptey did not drag his opponent to the ground. Palace’s Batshuayi fell over backwards and Attwell bought the act of simulation. This was a poor decision that should have seen an intervention from VAR Kevin Friend.

LEICESTER CITY vs ASTON VILLA  RESULT 0 -1
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Harry Lennard, Dan Robathan
Fourth official: Darren England
VAR: Graham Scott
Assistant VAR: Timothy Wood

A solid performance from Jon Moss with the winning goal in a tight encounter been scored by a long shot on goal by Ross Barkley.

About Author