Am I Mystic Meg?

For those of you who read my regular blogs for the guys at Pitch Talk, you will know that I have been saying it all season that the referees will have a big say in who and who does not win the league. Over the past few months the men in the middle have been making mistake after mistake with their decision making. It is something that should not be happening as the refereeing standards should be so much better than what we have witnessed. There are only a few games to go now in most leagues around the world and errors are still been made. What is more worrying for me is the fact that these bad decisions are not just in one league or even one country, but right across all leagues throughout the world. Maybe it is the fact that the games from around the world are readily available to watch no matter where you are on this planet. It is a system now that highlights all the problems involving getting a decision correct. Refereeing has always been a hard job to do but with the coverage the games get now it has nearly become the impossible job. Having written all that, this week my microscope falls on two officials who had a tough weekend as they blew the whistle. Jon Moss and Craig Thompson came in for a lot of stick over the weekend after their performances on the field in Leicester and Glasgow. Let me unravel a few issues below that happened to the guys.

Leicester City have been the sensation of the decade this season. Every neutral and so called pundit want them to win the league and any referee who makes any sort of an error whilst officiating the Foxes will be hammered. Jon Moss was the man in the middle for their latest clash which last weekend was against another team having a super season, West Ham United. Jon had three huge calls in the game and got two of them spot on, unfortunately the one he got wrong could have a huge impact on the final outcome of this seasons Barclays Premier League. The Jamie Vardy sending off was in my opinion 100% correct, in fact it was downright cheating. The regular readers of my articles for the boys at Pitch Talk will remember I have highlighted Vardy’s antics before. This time he has been caught out and hopefully the book will be thrown at him, his reaction to his sending off was outrageous. Let us be honest Jamie, you were caught out now take your punishment. If you look at the West Ham penalty it is very easy to see why the referee gave it.  Before the corner had been taken the referee had reason to pull out a few players and warned them about holding. It obviously fell on deaf ears and it was a good and brave decision to give the away team a spot kick. So having got two good decisions under his belt the referee went and blew it in the final moments of the game. All he had to do was see out the game and the plaudits would have come his way. Instead he decides to give a penalty for a challenge by Andy Carroll. In my opinion it was just a coming together of players and never a penalty. In the big scheme of things if referees are going to blow for incidents like this every week, we may just turn off our televisions. So Jon in my opinion has now left his mark on this seasons Barclays Premier League with such a huge call. Mind you it is just another black mark against the officials who have screwed up.

We have waited quite a while for an Old Firm Derby and finally we got one last week in the Scottish Cup semifinal. For such a huge game, who better to referee it than arguably the best official in Scotland, Craig Thompson? It was always going to be a tough game for Craig and I cannot believe how he made a mess of it by the simple awarding of a throw in. When a referee and his team get together they need to be in tune with each other all the time. The more experienced guys learn this over the years. So when referee Thompson over ruled his assistant on the simplest of decisions like awarding a throw in, I knew we were in for problems. It not only showed me that Craig had no trust in his assistant Alan Mulvanny but was quite prepared to leave him out to dry. The incident led to a second Rangers goal and effectively knocked Celtic out of the cup. I know that Rangers only went two one up after the goal but who was to say that they could have got a second once, Celtic got their,s. As we all know now Rangers went on to win the tie and progress to the final and good luck to them. But in my opinion it was an awful decision and for the life of me I cannot understand what came into Craig,s head. One explanation been thrown out by a lot of my refereeing colleagues around the world this week is possibly he was fatigued. I cannot agree with that opinion at all, in fact if this was the case he should have totally left the decision to his assistant. The knock on effect has left Celtic with no possibility of a double and today manager Ronny Deila has decided to step down at the end of the season a decision I am not sure he would have taken if his Celtic team had done the double. The fallout from a bad decision by Craig Thompson has led to more than just not appearing in a cup final, but far further than that. It was a poor decision by a referee who after all is a FIFA man, in my eyes this is not acceptable.

So there you go, another very bad weekend for refereeing decisions. I am scratching my brain to remember when I did not have a weekend were nothing has gone wrong. Having said all that, we have a few exciting weekends ahead and I expect the top referees to be getting things correct. So until my next blog for the boys at Pitch Talk enjoy your football and I do hope your team does not fall the victim of a bad decision. CIAO 

The Heat Is On

We have entered the month of April and this is were things really heat up, in the chase for trophies and the valuable points to avoid relegation. It is at this time of the season that refereeing decisions come under the spotlight with great scrutiny. If the officials get it wrong at this stage of the season it can be curtains for some clubs. The managers are only looking for excuses to point the finger at a bad refereeing decision. How many times have we heard coaches complain about a missed hand ball a missed tackle by a referee or even the referee missing a clear cut red card. It has been going on for more years than I care to remember. These managers are just looking for someone to point a finger at as it all goes wrong. I always find it funny when managers blame referees for a dodgy decision that may have cost his team the points, well I think these guys should concentrate more on their own tactical judgement than a profession of which they know nothing about, refereeing. So whilst watching my feast of football on TV last weekend what caught my eye, yes you have guessed it a manager moaning and funnily enough a player not moaning enough as to get his team a penalty. Read on below and let us unravel the issues as I saw them. One of my observations will make you chuckle, as a manager points a finger at the wrong person.

As all the readers of my blog for the boys at Pitch Talk will know, I am a big Leeds United fan. I have had the full list of ups and downs following this great club. It is a club with passionate fans and over the years passionate players. I sat down on Saturday lunchtime to watch my beloved club take on Burnley at Turf Moor. What I witnessed was a disappointing performance that lacked the passion from Leeds to go and get a result. It was the performance from a team that had decided it was time for the holidays. This was never so evident as when United had a clear penalty not given by referee Lee Mason, it was not so much that the referee did not give it, but it was more the fact that when Antenucci was pushed by Burnley defender Mee, not one Leeds player even appealed for the spot kick. It was an attitude of lay down and die by the away club. At the time of the incident I was unsure myself as to whether or not it was a spot kick, but a good friend of mine from Galway Gerry McDermott sent me the footage on Saturday evening and I was completely convinced it was indeed a penalty. Now you all know me and I do not agree with players surrounding referees and harassing them into making decisions but I could not believe that no one looked for the foul. The TV pundits tend to call this sort of challenge by a defender as just easing out his opponent. Nonsense it is a clear foul and on Saturday my club suffered from a bad decision by referee Lee Mason, an official who has a wealth of premier league experience. Mind you he was let off by no appeal from a Leeds team lacking any passion to want to have it awarded.

One thing which is certain is that football and the managers involved in the game never fail to amaze me and last weekend was no exception. The excuses these guys spout out week after week are a total and utter joke now at this stage. Last Sunday, Louis Van Gaal took the excuse game to an all new level. His United side were absolutely blitzed by a brilliant Spurs team in my opinion. But it was off the field that all the drama developed before the game as Manchester United turned up late. The lateness was blamed on London traffic, lucky they did not play on Saturday or they may have never got to White Hart Lane, when United did turn up they were instructed to warm up and were given an amount of time to do so, this is where the plot thickens. The United management team were up in arms blaming the referee for disrupting there pre match routine by not allowing them more time to warm up. Again after a defeat a manager coming out to the media and complaining about refereeing decisions, although this time it was not the on field decisions that had got the manager annoyed. Well let me put Mr. Van Gaal straight on this, you screwed up, you as the manager should have made sure to be in the ground on time. If you are looking for someone to blame throw the book at the bus driver who failed to check the travelling time for your journey. Like your players on the pitch, he was responsible for a defeat that ultimately has now cost you any chance of getting that fourth champions league spot.

So there we have it once again, another weekend of roller coaster decisions going wrong. We are fast running out of games and I am sure we will see plenty more. We have to hope that one of these bad footballing decisions is not going to cost your team valuable points. Until next week enjoy your football and I do hope things can only get better. Ciao.

The Show Goes On

A lot has happened since my last blog for the boys at Pitch Talk. It has been an extraordinary couple of weeks on this little planet we call EARTH. We have had the terrorist attack in Belgium which cost an awful lot of people their life's. It is worrying that men, women and children can not go about their daily routine now, without the risk of what could happen anywhere. After such atrocities, it is vitally important that people show these so called terrorists that you will never succeed. Now your probably wondering why I am even discussing these people, but UEFA are apparently proposing to play some games in the Euro 2016 Finals behind closed doors, if a threat to a particular game is mentioned. This should not happen in my opinion as it is a defeatist attitude and it only let's the bad boys win. We also have had some cracking games at international level since my last blog and of course it goes without saying some awful refereeing decisions. Instead of my usual look at events in the Barclays Premier League, I have decided this week to spread my net a little wider, I am going to have a look at sensible refereeing in Dublin and a German referee who had a tough game in Barcelona.

When it comes to derby games in SSE Airtricity League, they arguably do not come much bigger than Shamrock Rovers v Saint Patricks Athletic. Last week the two met and the atmosphere was red hot in the Tallaght Stadium, the home of Rovers. In charge for the battle was Tomas Connolly who is an excellent referee in my opinion. His consistency is top drawer and puts in excellent displays on a weekly basis. In this game Tomas showed something I have not seen from a referee in a very long time. I can hear everyone laugh now at the thought that a referee showed common sense, but that is exactly what he did. Having awarded a penalty for the home side, Tomas was quick to realize he may have called it wrong, in fact he had called it wrong it was never a penalty, so instead of making a complete mess of things and allow his decision to stand, he communicated with his his assistant, yes communicated with his assistant, something you do not see in the Barclays Premier League. Tomas had landed himself in a spot of bother but by keeping himself in control, his assistant and himself got to the right answer to the question in the end. In my opinion this was a a brilliant piece of refereeing and a demonstration of how communication between the officials is so important.

It is not very often you can sit down and enjoy a game of football were everything falls into place. Well on Tuesday night that is exactly what happened when I tuned into the Barcelona v Atletico Madrid game in the Champions League, two of the top clubs in Europe. It was also a night were I got a chance to have a look at referee Felix Brych from Germany. I was not to be disappointed as both teams put on a cracker. Barcelona the attacking side of the game and Madrid with their defensive policy. In a Nou Camp stadium that was filled to the rafters I thought it was a brilliant match, add to that, the performance of a referee who was on top of his game and we had footballing excellence. Felix was so impressive in a white hot atmosphere. When the game was threatening to boil over after he sent off Torres, the German showed total control. A referee who keeps composed, whilst everyone around him is looking to cause problems is a top class official in my opinion. This referee let no one sway any of his decisions, this in fact is far more important than the actual decisions themselves. Because if you let the players get to you, all sorts of things can go wrong. He was not fooled by anyone and this helped the game develop into the showpiece it turned out to be. Let us all be honest about the main issue of the game, Torres deserved to be sent off no matter what anybody says. He was given two yellow cards for two stupid tackles. The boys at Pitch Talk will understand what I mean with that statement, as you would have to be totally stupid to get sent off for what Torres did. When the game finished I actually thought that this performance could put the German in with a chance of officiating over this years final. It will take some refereeing performance to beat the one we all saw the other night.

So there you have it, no comments on the Barclays Premier League this week. It was good to have a chance to look at some other leagues and officials. I have no doubt we will be back discussing the Barclay,s Premier League next week. I can only hope we are not discussing an issue involving your team and a match official. Until then have a great week and enjoy your football. Ciao

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.

FA CUP WEEKEND DECISIONS

The weekend that has just passed was all about the 5th Round of this years FA Cup. A competition that the FA over the years have tried to destroy, with its changing of the format. I have even been reading this week in the media, that the powers to be, are now looking to switch the games to midweek and have no replays. I am not so sure about this decision and once again it has all the hallmarks of the big Premier League clubs involvement. Do the FA not realise, how this competition is viewed around the world by your genuine football fan, and not your prawn sandwich brigade as Roy Keane once famously called them. It gives the fans of the smaller clubs an opportunity to have a few great days out if they get a cup run going. The new proposals could ruin all that, as your average fan may not be able to attend an away fixture in midweek due to time and work constraints. If anybody from the FA gets to read this article, please think long and hard before making a decision to change the games to midweek. I am not really bothered if there are no replays, but moving to midweek would be a major blow to the fans and the competition in my opinion needs the support of the fans.

Having said all of that, where did I focus my attention this weekend for the boys at Pitch Talk. I decided to have a look at how Mike Dean handled the Arsenal v Hull City game at the Emirates. It was an interesting appointment, as the followers of this regular blog will know, I had huge problems with Mike,s handling of his last Arsenal game when they played Chelsea. It was the day that Gabriel and Costa clashed in the game played at Stamford Bridge and the Arsenal defender was sent off. I was not very happy with Mike,s handling of that incident earlier in the season and was very interested to see what approach he would take to handle the game at the weekend. I can only say in a word what I thought of his performance this weekend " Awful ". The game itself was not a tough game to handle and only had two big talking points, which I am afraid to say Mike got terribly wrong and yes they were decisions that could have seen a different outcome than a nil all draw. How Mike did not give Arsenal a penalty when Alex Bruce clearly handled Mohamed Elneny,s shot in the first half, is not even debatable. Bruce clearly moved his arm in the direction of the ball and that to me is a cast iron reason to give a penalty. Mike been Mike,he just waved play on, sometimes he shows a bit of arrogance when officiating, which is something I hate in a referee. One other incident from the game I can not let pass without comment is the fact that Mike failed to send off Arsenal defender Koscielny for a second bookable offence when he dived in and brought Hull City,s David Meyler down. It was a yellow card all day long and Mr. Dean should have produced it, instead he decided to talk to the Arsenal defender, bad refereeing in my opinion. Everybody in the ground knew the player had been booked earlier in the game and should have seen red, but I am wondering after all the fall out from his last time refereeing Arsenal did he decide to just bottle it, so as not to cause himself further issues as the season is coming to a close, surely not.

I can not finish up this week without mentioning the coin throwing incident at Reading involving West Bromwich player Chris Brunt. This in my opinion was a disgusting action by a West Bromwich fan towards one of his own players. It has no place in the game and I know the lads at Pitch Talk will back my views and condemn the action of that particular fan, as these guys are real fans. In all my days following football I have never come across anything like it. No matter how bad a teams performance is, there is no place in football for that sort of behaviour. I hope the authorities find this guy and ban him from ever going to a game again. So as I write, every week before I sign off, I do hope you enjoy your football in the coming week and I can only keep my fingers crossed that a referee does not upset you, with a bad decision. But be assured if any errors happen I will be all over it for the boys at Pitch Talk, until next week CIAO.