Tighten it up Ref

Last week I blogged about my views on who I thought could win this seasons Barclays Premier League. I also stated, that I hoped a bad refereeing decision would not decide this years champions. So I must admit I was left fuming last weekend with the performance of Anthony Taylor; followed up by the performance by Mark Clattenburg who just  put the cherry on the cake. It is quite ironic that the decisions have fallen in favour for Liverpool and that now makes the men from Anfield championship favourites. It is just not acceptable that when it has come down to the last few games,referees decisions have been called wrong. Let me below talk about the decisions that I have seen, that have changed the destiny of the Barclays Premier League this season.

Firstly let me take you back to last Sunday week and the game between West Ham and Liverpool at Upton Park. It was a pretty normal game for a referee of the top standard to handle until Anthony shot himself in the foot by allowing a Demel goal to stand, when you could clearly see that Andy Carroll had fouled the keeper on the cross. Not just a push,but a clear slap at the keepers head. Now the referee missed it,but to then make a complete and utter mess of the whole thing he failed to listen to advice given to him by his assistant, who was trying to help the referee sort out the mess. In fact what it showed to me was that the referee did not trust his assistant,and this is why he failed to accept the advice given. Then to really make matters worse, he gives a dodgy penalty to Liverpool, in my opinion it was never a penalty and the goalkeeper clearly played the ball. So Mr.Taylor had an awful day and he got all the big decisions wrong. A referee should always get the big decisions right and this defines his game.So no gold medal for Anthony on his game, in fact I thought he was very poor.

Fast forward to one week later and the big one at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City. For the best games you need the best referees, and it was given to Mark Clattenburg. Personally I think it was to soon after his performance in the Manchester United and Liverpool game to have him take charge of this one. My feelings were proved correct as not only did Mark make one big game changing mistake,he in fact made three blunders which in fact had a direct bearing on the result of the game. The first mistake he made was not sending off Suarez for a clear dive in the second half. The Liverpool player had been booked early in the game and his dive should have warranted a second yellow. It would have been so easy but I feel Mark bottled it. The second mistake was he did not award Man.City a penalty when Dzeko was taken down by Sakho if this had happened outside of the penalty area I have no doubt a free kick would have been awarded.Then right at the very end both Mark and his assistant missed a clear hand ball by Liverpool defender Skirtel. There is no question it was a hand ball and it should have been a penalty. But I suppose if you were to give a penalty in front of the Kop so late in the game with the home team leading, you would need balls of steel,unfortunately Mark obviously had not. Overall I am very disappointed with the two referees, as I would prefer not to be discussing poor decisions but ones that are of the excellent variety. Until next week enjoy your football and hopefully your team wins,without a bad decision by the man in the middle.