The Return of the BPL!

THE BPL IS BACK!! It's finally returned to our screens. We've had what seemed like a long break from our regular football fix and finally the long spell without has come to an end. Many of us were wondering what the new season was to bring for us; what were we all going to talk about and debate. So can you imagine how astonished I was that in the first weekend of the new season, we had loads of controversy. Unfortunately the controversy was centred around referees once again. In particular I am talking about Michael Oliver and the new referee to the premier league panel, Simon Hooper. In my opinion the two referees involved were both at the opposite end of the scales in there performances. Michael with his FIFA experience was in charge at Stamford Bridge and rookie Simon got the gig at Carrow Road. Let me below give you my views on the two big talking incidents from the first weekend of the new Barclays Premier League.

Firstly let me take a look at the incident which saw Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois receive a red card for stopping a clear goal scoring opportunity. This in my opinion was not just an excellent decision but it was an example of top class communication between Michael Oliver and his team of officials. As a referee the one thing that is impossible, is to be able to be right up with play when a ball is played from defence to attack in the blink of an eye, so when Swansea broke out on Saturday and set Gomis up for a chance, teamwork by the referee and his assistant had to be spot on. From the position the referee was in it was impossible to say if Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois was in or outside the box when he committed the foul on the Swansea player. 

In these day's of modern technology I am sure his assistant had a word in his ear to confirm what decision was to be given. In my opinion the pair got it 100% correct, a red card and a penalty to follow, well done lads. So needless to say I was bemused to hear Thierry Henry disagree on TV that Saturday night, he claimed it wasn't a goal scoring opportunity. Well come off it Mr Henry you are totally wrong, I don't care how many defenders are behind a goalkeeper, once the forward goes past him there is your scoring opportunity, hence the red card on this occasion. Let us also not forget Mr Henry was right in the middle of his own controversy a few years back when he upset a whole Irish nation with is antics in Paris. I often wonder who picks these pundits to talk about incidents in games of which they have not got a clue about the rules or the interpretation of the rules. Let me just put another angle on this Courtois challenge. He was high, dangerous and out of control when he caught Gomis and anywhere else on the pitch to me it was a straight red. I was delighted that the FA rejected the frivolous Chelsea appeal. In fact once the appeal failed in my opinion the suspension should have been doubled. That last sentence is for another blog and another day, so let us park it.

I would imagine referee Simon Hooper was like a child waiting on Christmas Day to come last Friday night.Saturday was to be his first day waking to the prospect of the fact he was to referee a game in the English Barclay,s Premier League. He had been appointed to the Norwich City v Crystal Palace game and this should have been a game he would be well capable of controlling from the outset. I was lucky to see the whole game live and overall Simon did very well, but unfortunately he made a huge blunder when he disallowed a perfectly good goal by Cameron Jerome, yes it was an overhead kick, but never dangerous. But if you are lucky enough to see the incident again, you will see how the referee was anticipating the Palace defender sticking his head in to clear the ball. There in a nutshell is where it went wrong, you should never anticipate as a referee it will get you into so much trouble. I hope the referees bosses do not dump Simon over this incident as I said earlier he overall he did very well.So there you have it,week one over and controversy already. I am sure we will have loads more during the season and believe you me,I will be all over it for the boys at Pitch Talk, until next week enjoy your football.