The Truth Hurts

Those of you who read my regular blog for the boys at Pitch Talk will know my usual style and content. I have spent all of this season looking at the controversial issues involving refereeing decisions. The amount of controversies has gone beyond the point of a joke and as we head into the final weeks of the season I am sure we will see loads more to have a look at. But this week I want to have a look at two players who have come under the microscope and have faced a lot of criticism from all areas of the media. What I find incredible is, that it has taken until March for all the so called experts to finally see what has been going on with these two guys now for quite a while. I even read this week that one former top referee had called one of the two a thug. So who are we talking about when I say two players, well please can Mr.Diego Costa and Manchester United's Manuel Fellaini please step forward. These two guys have been the subject of many a conversation over the past week, so let me below give you my opinion on what these guys are all about.

When Diego Costa came into the Barclays Premier League the pundits were falling over themselves to praise him and his up and at them style. What has developed over his short spell in the league has been a distasteful attitude by the player towards his fellow professionals and match officials. Diego spends most of his appearances going around the pitch winding up his opponents to the point of explosion. As a referee this is the type of player we can do without in my opinion. The game itself is hard enough to referee and with his input it can become nearly impossible. I wrote earlier in the season that I thought he was an incident waiting to happen every time his name goes on the team sheet and I have been proven correct. His antics last week in the cup game between Everton and Chelsea was just unforgivable, although if he had sunk his teeth into his opponents neck moments before he was sent off he could have been in so much more hot water. But in my opinion the thought was there but he decided against carrying out such an action. As a Chelsea fan it must make your blood boil every time he steps out of line, I can agree he will get you goals but his antics outweigh any positive from that argument I am afraid. His club managers keep naming him when he is available but they pay the price if the player with his demons turns up. In my opinion the guy is trouble and now it seems that the Spanish manager has seen enough as well and left Diego out of his squad for the upcoming international friendlies next week. One other aspect that is very often missed in conversations about problem players is the effect it can have on the boys and girls around the world who watch everything their heroes do, only to recreate their every move on the playing fields of the local park.

Manchester United and Belgian international Fellaini is a total different story in my opinion. He was accused this week of been a thug by former referee Howard Webb. I actually think he is a very clever player and takes things very close to the line but very rarely is sent off. He often looks very awkward when competing for a ball and tends to use his arms and elbows a lot. I have no problem with that, but it is when he puts his arm across an opponents face that I take issue. I have seen him in many a game get away with it on a regular basis, but this is the clever bit in my opinion, the player knows only to well unless he deliberately smashes his opponent in the face the worst he will get is a yellow card for continuous fouling. I feel that this season there has been many a time when referees should have shown him a straight red and not let him get away with it, you do not have to necessarily use your arms all the time when challenging for the ball. If you have followed his career, you will notice that once he picks up a yellow card for the over use of the arm whilst challenging for the ball he very rarely challenges again in the same manner, so why does he have to do it from the start of a game. This in my opinion is where he is very clever, I would not call him a thug, just clever. Referees need to seriously look at this and deal with him accordingly.

So there you have it, incidents a plenty this week but I just had to comment on these two players as everyone else has had their say. I am sure next week I will have loads to discuss for the boys at Pitch Talk and I will only be happy to bring you my views. So until next week, enjoy your football and let us hope we are not discussing a bad refereeing decision in a game involving your club. Bye for now.

I Don't Believe It

Their is no doubt in my mind that this season has been one to embrace and enjoy. From the moment the first whistle blew back in August it has been a roller coaster of fun and games. If you follow my blogs on a regular basis for the boys at Pitch Talk you will know we certainly have had our fair share of controversy on a weekly basis. I am not sure if we have had a weekend when I wasn't reporting on some refereeing error. Well do not fall out of your chair this weekend as I am going to heap praise on two referees from different ends of the scale. I know most people will be shocked to hear I am going to look at the positives this week, but in all fairness I feel referees Michael Oliver and Trevor Kettle need to get a mention for their performances over the weekend. Read on below, to hear my views.

When I received my media release from the FA during the week, I was astonished to see that the biggest game of the weekend, Tottenham Hotspurs against Arsenal was to be refereed by Michael Oliver. A game that was been billed as the biggest North London Derby ever. I was very surprised that neither Mark Clattenburg or Martin Atkinson were the men in charge. I need not have worried as Michael Oliver had one of those games that do not come along to often for a referee. Michael went through ninety minutes trouble free and his was a very polished performance which helped the game as well. The red card for Coquelin was 100% correct, in my opinion the Arsenal player was absolutely stupid to dive in on Harry Kane as he was already on a yellow card. It was a tackle that was always going to lead to a yellow card and the referee had no option. So Michael had a good weekend and his display was top drawer in my opinion. The match overall was brilliant and lived up to all the pre match hype, I was definitely impressed that we had not got a bad refereeing decision to talk about that had cost either side. My reservations that Michael was in charge were unproven and because of that, I am a happy bunny this week.

Earlier in this article I mentioned a referee called Trevor Kettle, now I can hear everyone ask, who is Trevor Kettle ?. Well this guy set twitter alight on Saturday night and Sunday morning for a decision he made in the Accrington Stanley and AFC Wimbledon game. His decision to blow for half time just as Accrington,s Billy Kee hammered the ball into the net sent the twitter machine into overdrive. Many people were venting their anger towards the referee and calling him all sorts. At one stage former Premiership referee Jeff Winter became involved as he was asked questions about the incident by a lot of supporters. I myself gave my opinion and became a target for a bit of stick. So as you can imagine I feel the need to clear this issue up once and for all in this column. In my opinion the referee blew for half time, as time was up. By the letter of the law he was correct and I feel he was unlucky that the ball ended up in the back of the net. One thing referees do not carry with them is a crystal ball so how could he have seen, what lay ahead. If he had blown when the ball was in the centre of the pitch no one would have batted an eye. I feel Trevor was unlucky with what happened but in no way should this impact on the rest of his season. As I said from the outset, by the letter of the law his decision was correct.

So there you have it, another week over, another week nearer the end of the season. This week has been one to praise the referees and their assistants, but the way things have gone this season I have no doubt we will be back to more errors next weekend. In fact as I finish this blog I know a storm is brewing in the Crystal Palace v Liverpool game, but I will leave that for another day to discuss. Until next week enjoy your football and let us all hope I am not on here discussing a refereeing error that has cost your team. The pressure on everybody now is to get things right so let us hope the officials are on top form. Bye for now.

The Politics of Football

This past weekend has seen a general election in the Republic of Ireland and a lot of my time has been taken up keeping an eye on the outcome. As it turns out, votes have been cast all over the country and the results have been an eye opener. In political terms it has been the equivalent of a an earthquake. What sort of a government this country will end up with for the next few years is anybody,s guess at the moment. To be perfectly honest it is a bit of a mess, as is the performances of a lot of referees on a weekly basis this season. Getting things wrong is because of bad decision making, something referees and politicians have been doing now for quite a while. In between the counting of the votes I managed to run my eye over the performances of Jon Moss and Martin Atkinson for the boys at Pitch Talk. I once again had plenty to see, and in fairness I was fairly annoyed once again how the boys in the middle with the whistle are getting the big calls wrong.

Jon Moss was in charge of the West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace game which was always going to be a tricky encounter for the officials. It was penned as one of those games that had not got much depending on the outcome. These are the type of game that a referee can get into so much trouble . From the outset let me just make a point that I do like Jon Moss as a referee and he tends normally to call most things correct. This weekend was a bad one for Jon as I thought his handling of the game was well below the level that I have seen him refereeing before. It was a culmination of a lot of the small fouls that he missed which led to his biggest error in the game. No matter what way you look at it, if a player pushes his opponent in the penalty area when the ball is in play, the referee should award a spot kick. So in the fifty second minute of the game when West Bromwich Albion defender Gareth McAuley barged into the back of Scott Dann the decision should have been the awarding of a penalty kick. To the utter amazement of quite a few people, the referee waved play on. A terrible decision in my opinion. The referee explained after the game that he had been distracted by another West Bromwich player and missed the incident. That is a cop out and a disappointing response from the official. One other thing that I noticed during the game was the referees willingness to apply the advantage rule, I felt he over used it in this game. Jon will no doubt review his game over the next couple of days and will be disappointed with his performance.

Those of you who read my regular column for the boys at Pitch Talk will know I admire Martin Atkinson as a referee. Unfortunately Martin is now starting to have a few suspect decisions and in my opinion he could do with a bit of a rest. On Saturday he took charge of the Southampton v Chelsea game. It was a pretty much a game I expected the well respected official to totally be in control of and in fairness he pretty much got most things right. But in my opinion he got the decision to allow Chelsea,s equaliser to stand, totally wrong. In the build up to the goal he allowed a clash between Chelsea,s Kenedy and the Saints player Soares to go unpunished. As the pair clashed the Chelsea player was clearly seen to kick out at his opponent. Martin played an advantage, but instead in my opinion he should have stopped the game and red carded the Chelsea player and award Southampton a free kick. I was astonished he did not give it, Martin even got a flag from his assistant to indicate there was a problem. So although the official had not got a bad game, his decision not to produce a red card for this incident was a big downer in my eyes.

Well there we have it, another election is over in Ireland and another weekend of Association Football is far behind us. But as we look to the future, can we see on the horizon a weekend when the referees have a good time. Ah well, it gives me the ammunition to put these articles together for the boys at Pitch Talk,so long may the errors keep coming. Until next week, enjoy your football and let us all hope that referees do not ruin your weekend. CIAO.