A Season of Shocks

The 2015-16 football season has given us everything and so much more. We have witnessed the sensational campaign that saw Leicester City crowned Barclays Premier League champions. We have seen the downfall of the once self acclaimed special one, Jose Mourinhos exit from Chelsea was swift after he had huge problems trying to get his side rolling again this season, we even heard rumours of him losing the dressing room. But one thing that has not surprised all of the fans that read my regular column for the boys at Pitch Talk, has been the amount of refereeing controversies that have been made during the season. Last weekend was no different with again referees been thrown into the spotlight. Well I say referees but in truth this week I want to discuss an issue involving Mike Jones and Mesut Ozil and how I feel Michael Oliver had an horrific game whilst officiating at Old Trafford for the Manchester United v Leicester City game. Read on below and I will give my opinion on the issues that stood out for me this week.

Once upon a time there use to be a respect campaign running throughout the game, it is something that in my opinion has been stuck in a bin somewhere and forgotten about. Respect has to be earned and in most cases is. But what I witnessed at the Emirates on Saturday night was disgusting as Mesut Ozil showed referee Mike Jones no respect at all, in fact in my opinion his behaviour towards the official was nothing more than disgraceful. As Mike Jones deemed a high challenge by the Arsenal player deserved a yellow card, what was to happen next was unacceptable. As the referee tried to show Mesut a yellow card the player just kept walking away, no matter how many times the referee blew the whistle to get his attention so as to bring him back for the card. The whole incident became farcical when Mike Jones had to run after the player to actually show him the card. In my opinion the referee failed himself and his colleagues by having to go after the player. Once Ozil did not comeback he was showing dissent and should have received a second yellow for his antics.

It is the only way to deal with this sort of nonsense by players. If issues like these are not addressed, we will have all sorts of mayhem. One surprising aspect on all of this for me was the fact that it got very little mention from the media. I feel Mike Jones needed to be a lot stronger and should have dealt with the dissent shown by Ozil by producing the second yellow. As I said from the outset on this issue, the respect campaign is in the bin.

Following on from Saturday's shenanigans, we all sat down and watched the so called Super Sunday. Old Trafford was the venue and Leicester were the visitors. For such a high profile game, the powers to be appointed Michael Oliver to take charge and I have to admit I thought it was a good appointment. Well how wrong could I have been, Michael had an awful game. He missed an incident that involved Huth and Fellaini which the FA have now stepped in to deal with. Referees should always know the players who can give them trouble and never take your eye off them. If Michael had have been focussed in on the incident he should have two red cards. Another player who got away with murder was Wayne Rooney, he should have seen a second yellow for a pull back on a Leicester player on the edge of the United box. It was a clear pulling down of a player and Rooney was a very very lucky boy as he was already on a yellow from a previous incident. I do not care what anyone says to me about another issue in the game as I feel the referee made a mess of Leicester,s equaliser. Huth was clearly holding down Smalling when the ball was delivered into the box and the referee should have awarded a free kick out. I am going through a list here that is growing by the minute. Leicester should have been awarded a penalty when Mihraz was taken down by United defender Rojo, these are incidents that you would think a FIFA referee would be all over. Unfortunately on the day Michael left his good performance in the dressing room. I will put the final incident in now and it it is unbelievable that Manchester United were not awarded a penalty when Danny Drinkwater took down Depay in the box. Although it was a good yellow card the referee failed to back it up by giving the penalty. The performance by Michael overall was very very poor and I would like to think that he sat down on Sunday night and reflected on a job badly done. The reason the FIFA men get the big games is because they are expected to put them away without controversy, in this case it simply did not happen.

So there we go, another weekend over and one which had its share of controversy. We have not got to many games left to watch now and it will be empty weekends ahead for those of us who love the beautiful game. But as we look a little further down the road, we have the 2016 European Championships coming up. It will be a tournament I shall be keeping a close eye on for the boys at Pitch Talk and if the referees get it wrong I will tell you how, first. Mind you this tournament will involve the top referees from around Europe and I expect very few problems. Until next week, enjoy your football and I do hope I am not talking about a bad decision involving your team over the coming seven days, until then guys CIAO.