Magical Atkinson

This is the time of the year when the big issues are starting to be settled in the football world. As we head into February and March titles and cups are up for grabs and top games need top referees. As you know from my previous blogs for the boys on Pitch Talk I do like to follow what is going on in the refereeing world and blog on all the big decisions. The first major semi final of the season was during the week between Liverpool and Chelsea. As we all know there is a lot of history between these two clubs and over recent seasons there has been plenty of controversy, the ghost goal and the Suarez bite, just to name two. So it was with great intrigue that I sat down to watch the game on Tuesday night at Anfield. I was delighted to see that Martin Atkinson had been awarded the game, in my opinion is one of the top two referees in England at the moment. The other shall remain my secret for the moment. So let me below try and give you a report from a referee’s viewpoint as to how Mr.Atkinson did on the night. 

The first thing that Martin did to help the game flow was not to be afraid to apply the advantage rule and this worked for him, giving us the public a rip roaring cup tie to enjoy. Sometimes referee’s blow to much and this can stifle a game, but not Martin he was prepared to let the game flow if the players wanted it. You are probably wondering on that statement, but there have been games recently where referees have tried to let the game open out only for players to ruin it by stepping across the line and fouling on a regular basis. Overall I thought Martin was superb and had only got three big issues to deal with. The Chelsea penalty was a 100% correct as the Liverpool defender put in a very clumsy challenge inside the box and left the referee with no option but to point to the spot. Players sometimes can give away the softest of penalties by lunging in or worse still going in to a challenge in the box when their body is not set up to make a challenge. The other two big talking points in the game were the dive by Costa in the second half and Courtois handling outside the box. 

Now let us put the handball incident to bed very quickly, yes it was handball outside the box but there was no way the referee could have picked it up, not in a million years. In fact the only way that everyone else saw it was because of Skys numerous amount of cameras placed around the ground. The Costa dive was really a non event in my mind, the player went to ground after passing by the defender and Martin was correct to do nothing at all but just play on. So throughout the game I was delighted with the officials match performance on the night. There in itself is also and issue in a two legged tie, if the referee in the first game has problems it can lead to the referee of the second leg to have a certain mind set going into it. I am glad to say that whoever gets the second leg need not worry as Martin Atkinson left a very tidy tie lined up to referee. I just hope that next week I am not reporting on a referee who has made a right mess of the game. On that note I will bid you farewell for this week and if your out and about at a match do have a good time and stay safe.