Tottenham Vs Aston Villa | Defoe penalty appeal turned down

Description of incident: Defoe controlled the ball just inside the Villa area and Petrov came in from the side to challenge. Defoe went crashing to the floor and the ref, clearly struggling to see the incident clearly, waved play on despite the loud appeals.

Date of Game: Saturday 6th February 2010

Home Team: Tottenham | Away Team: Aston Villa

Referee: Chris Foy | Linesman: Phil Sharp & Martin Yerby

Decision Type: Penalty | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 2/5

Affect on Result: Arguably denied Tottenham a vital victory | Winner: Aston Villa | Loser: Tottenham

Players Involved: Martin Petrov (Aston Villa) & Jemain Defoe (Tottenham)

Summary: The referee was bending and stretching to see the incident around a crowd of players. He clearly failed as this was a blatant penalty; Petrov took Defoe's leg away. If he saw it, he would have come to the same conclusion. Either way, wrong decision, the penalty should have been given.

Cheers,
WB

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Birmingham City Vs Tottenham | Clean sheet

Date of Game: Saturday 30th January 2010

Home Team: Birmingham City | Away Team: Tottenham

Referee: Stuart Attwell | Linesman: Mike Mullarkey & Darren Cann

Summary: No major refereeing incidents in the game's key moments. Clean sheet in Attwell's first game monitored by me.

View full match highlights

Cheers,
WB

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Tottenham Vs Fulham | No major refereeing incidents

Date of Game: Tuesday 26th January 2010

Home Team: Tottenham | Away Team: Fulham

Referee: Mike Dean | Linesman: Simon Beck & Stephen Child

Summary: The second 'clean sheet' of the night. Meaning from the highlights I've seen, there were no game-changing, debatable refereeing decisions.

If you were at the game or have seen extended highlights and think I've missed something, drop me an email or tweet me and I'll do my best to track down a clip of the incident and update the site. Alternatively, post a comment below and open up the debate to a wider audience.

Cheers,
WB

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Liverpool Vs Tottenham | Ngog awarded penalty

Description of incident: The ball was bouncing on the edge of the Tottenham penalty area as Ngog came racing forward. He got his foot to the ball as Bassong, coming from inside the penalty area, made a challenge. Ngog came crashing down and the referee gave a penalty.

Date of Game: Wednesday 20th January 2010


Home Team: Liverpool | Away Team: Tottenham

Referee: Howard Webb | Linesman: Peter Kirkup & Shaun Procter-Green

Decision Type: Penalty | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 5/5

Affect on Result: I don't believe Tottenham would have scored in the time remaining so, none | Winner: Liverpool | Loser: Tottenham

Players Involved: Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham) & David Ngog (Liverpool)

Summary: Another really tough decision. I think it's an obvious foul so there are two things that we need to take into account here. Firstly, was it inside the area? Based mainly upon Bassong's position, I believe the contact did take place inside the area. Even with a number of video replays I found it hard to know for sure - but I have only managed to find 2 different camera angles so far. Secondly, was Bassong in control of the ball? You have to say that he wasn't. The ball was almost in Gomes' hands by the time Ngog fell to the ground. I've seen them given and being honest, I've changed my verdict from right to wrong whilst writing this summary. It was such a rough challenge I think you get distracted from how hard Ngog had kicked the ball. No penalty, wrong decision by the referee.

I'm glad this game only had two controversial refereeing decisions. The toughest game to analyse yet. By a mile.

Cheers,
WB

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Liverpool Vs Tottenham | Defoe ruled offside saving Reina's blushes

Description of incident: King launched the ball forward from deep inside the Tottenham half. Defoe was making his way back onside and made no attempt to chase the ball. As it dropped 30 yards from Liverpool's goal Reina came racing out as Kyrgiakos reached the ball & passed it back to the Spanish stopper. At this point Defoe, from an onside position, came forward to challenge Reina who, in the meantime, had got his feet in a real tangle. Defoe simply rolled the ball into the empty net. As it rolled towards the line, the ref blew his whistle to award offside. Phew!

Date of Game: Wednesday 20th January 2010

Home Team: Liverpool | Away Team: Tottenham

Referee: Howard Webb | Linesman: Peter Kirkup & Shaun Procter-Green

Decision Type: Offside | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 5/5

Affect on Result: Denied Spurs an equaliser & who's to say which way the game would have swung if it had gone to 1-1 | Winner: Liverpool | Loser: Tottenham

Players Involved: Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Jose Reina & Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Liverpool)

Summary: I've given this decision a difficulty score of 5 as I think the state of the current offside rule is almost impossible to interpret. Phase 2 onside or whatever it's called creates too much of a grey area. I'm all for going back to the simple days of blowing for offside when the ball was originally launched forward. Having said all that, assuming I'm understanding the laws of the game correctly, Defoe was not offside. Once Kyrgiakos touches the ball, Defoe is instantly onside. I'm not even sure it matters whether he'd made his way onside or not. "Phase 2" starts with the defenders touch. But even if I'm wrong there, the fact is Defoe did make his way back onside AND had made not attempt to challenge for or chase the ball prior to Kyrgiakos' touch. Tough decision, but the goal should have stood.

I actually found this decision painful to make.

Cheers,
WB

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Tottenham Vs Hull City | First Whistle Blower clean sheet

Date of Game: Saturday 16th January 2010

Home Team: Tottenham | Away Team: Hull City

Referee: Martin Atkinson | Linesman: Peter Kirkup & Phil Sharp

Summary: For the first time since I started this blog I have encountered a game where, from the highlights I've seen, there were no game-changing, debatable refereeing decisions. Therefore, I'll class this as a 'clean sheet' for the ref. Clean sheets all round then.

If you were at the game or have seen extended highlights and think I've missed something, drop me an email or tweet me and I'll do my best to track down a clip of the incident and update the site. Alternatively, post a comment below and open up the debate to a wider audience.

Cheers,
WB

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Manifesto: Judging Premier League Referees' Descisions

I've decided to start reviewing the most critical decisions made by Premier League referees.  Those that have a direct affect on the outcome of the game; offside, free-kick, penalty, red card & goal line decisions.  Consider that an inclusive rather than exclusive list.

This is not spawned out of any particular dislike for referees or any perceived injustice against the team I support, I will be looking for the good as well the bad.  And it will extend, where necessary, to decision of the linesmen (or, officially, Assistant Referees - but that is the last time I will refer to them as such) and 4th officials.

Rather than looking to publicly lambaste referees on a weekly basis, my gut feeling is that I'll demonstrate what a difficult job they have, how often they actually get key decisions right and how, even with hindsight and slow motion video replays, it can still be difficult to come to a definitive conclusion.  Don't get me wrong, I am as big a critic as anyone else when I'm watching a game so I'll just as happy if my gut feeling turns out to be wrong.

The analysis will be restricted to Premier League games only, looking for any patterns that may emerge from the performance of referees.  This will become more apparent when reviewing the 2010/11 season in full however, I hope to provide some insights into the 2009/10 season even though I am kicking off in January 2009.

As a bit of a warm-up, I took a look at the FA Cup games that took place yesterday (Saturday 2nd).  And if this is anything to go by, my gut feelings will be proved right as we see a really good day for referees:

1. Reading vs Liverpool | David Richardson | Linesman | Not flagging Kuyt offside when he dummied Gerrard's shot for Liverpool's goal | Decision:
   
2. Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City | Steve Bennett | Referee | Awarding a penalty to Forest for a foul on Anderson | Decision:
   
3. Middlesbrough vs Man City | Stuart Atwell | Referee | Not giving a penalty to Middlesbrough & booking O'Neil for diving:
1. No penalty | Decision:
2. Booking | Decision:
4. Everton vs Carlisle | John Flynn or Darren Drysdale (TBC) | Linesman | Flagging James Vaughn offside when he "scored" his second | Decision:
5. Everton vs Carlisle | Jon Moss | Referee | Awarding Everton a penalty for a foul on Agard | Decision:
6. MK Dons vs Burnley | Anthony Bates | Referee | Awarding Burnley a penalty for a foul on Fletcher | Decision:
7. MK Dons vs Burnley | Michael Murphy or Ian Smedley (TBC) | Linseman | Not flagging Fletcher offside when scoring Burnley's second | Decision:
8. MK Dons vs Burnley | Michael Murphy or Ian Smedley (TBC) | Linseman | Not flagging Morgan offside when he scored MK Dons' consolation goal | Decision:
9. Aston Villa vs Blackburn | Howard Webb | Referee | Awarding a penalty to Blackburn for a foul on Reid | Decision:
10. Aston Villa vs Blackburn | Howard Webb | Referee | Sending off Diouf for a (truly awful) foul | Decision:
11. Aston Villa vs Blackburn | Howard Webb | Referee | Awarding Aston Villa a penalty for a foul on Carew | Decision:
12. Tottenham vs Peterborough | Lee Mason | Referee | Awarding Tottenham a penalty for a foul on Rose | Decision:
13. Fulham vs Swindon Town | Anthony Taylor | Awarding Fulham a penalty for a foul on Johnson | Decision:
14. Blackpool vs Ipswich Town | Eddie Ilderton | Referee | Awarding Blackpool a penalty for foul on Omorod | Decision:
15. Blackpool vs Ipswich Town | Eddie Ilderton | Referee | Sending Evatt off for Blackpool | Decision:
16. Blackpool vs Ipswich Town | Eddie Ilderton | Referee | Sending Edwards off for Blackpool | Decision: (but it was a foul)
17. Preston NE vs Colchester Utd | Colin Webster | Referee | Awarding a penalty to Preston for a foul on Parkin | Decision:

So, onto the real thing - kicking off with mid-week analysis of any key decisions in Stoke vs Fulham on Tuesday and Arsenal vs Bolton on Wednesday.

And this will be, by a massive distance, my longest post ever.

Cheers,
WB

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