Liverpool Vs Everton | Pienaar receives red card for second yellow

Description of incident: After escaping a red card earlier in the game, Pienaar eventually received his marching orders deep into injury time. He challenged for a header with Gerrard; Gerrard won the ball and ended up on the floor, clutching his head. The ref showed a second yellow, then red to Pienaar.

Date of Game: Saturday 6th February 2010

Home Team: Liverpool | Away Team: Everton

Referee: Martin Atkinson | Linesman: David Richardson & Darren Cann

Decision Type: Red card | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 2/5

Affect on Result: N/A | Winner: Liverpool | Loser: Everton

Players Involved: Steven Pienaar (Everton) & Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

Summary: It was a challenge borne out of frustration as he was clearly late and video replays show he was also looking at the player, not the ball. This still doesn't explain to me why Gerrard went down holding his barnet, as Pienaar did not come anywhere near his head with any part of his body. Regardless, it was a stupid challenge and Pienaar has no one to blame for his red card other than himself. Right decision, second yellow & red card.

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Cheers,
WB

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Liverpool Vs Everton | Pienaar high challenge on Mascherano receives yellow

Description of incident: Pienaar came in with a high challenge on Mascherano, connecting about knee high on the Argentine, leading with his studs. The ref gave a free kick to Liverpool and booked Steven Pienaar despite loud calls for a red card.

Date of Game: Saturday 6th February 2010

Home Team: Liverpool | Away Team: Everton

Referee: Martin Atkinson | Linesman: David Richardson & Darren Cann

Decision Type: Red card | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 3/5

Affect on Result: It would have put Everton down to ten men prior to Liverpool losing a man, so it's impossible to tell how different the game would have been had Pienaar received a red | Winner: Everton | Loser: Liverpool

Players Involved: Steven Pienaar (Everton) & Javier Mascherano (Liverpool)

Summary: Pienaar's challenge was awful. I don't like seeing players sent off but, under the current guidelines, it had to be a straight red. Jamie Redknapp, commenting for Sky Sports, said he was amazed that it didn't result in a broken leg for Mascherano, which I think summarises what type of challenge it was. The ref bottled this one, maybe because it was the first major incident in the game, but he definitely got it wrong, it should have been red not yellow.



Cheers,
WB

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Wolverhampton Vs Wigan Athletic | McCarthy penalty & Stearman red card

Description of incident: The ball was bouncing awkwardly high inside the Wolves penalty area. McCarthy ran onto the ball and collided with Stearman. The result being the ref awarding a penalty to Wigan and sending Stearman off for his second yellow card offense.

Date of Game: Saturday 16th January 2010

Home Team: Wolverhampton Wanderers | Away Team: Wigan Athletic

Referee: Howard Webb | Linesman: Darren Cann & Mike Cairns

Decision Type: Penalty | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 3/5

Decision Type: Red card | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 2/5

Affect on Result: Losing a player relatively early in the game made Wolves chances of getting a positive result slim | Winner: Wigan Athletic | Loser: Wolverhampton

Players Involved: James McCarthy (Wigan) & Richard Stearman (Wolves)

Summary: I think the penalty was a tough decision and maybe a little harsh on Wolves however, if you have an arm wrapped around an opponent's chest inside your own penalty area, like Stearman did, you're asking for trouble. For that reason I side with ref on the penalty call. However, the sending off I think he got wrong. The contact was light, the player was going away from goal and barely in control of the high bouncing ball. For me penalty, no second yellow.

Cheers,
WB

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Stoke City Vs Liverpool | Lucas penalty shout & booking for diving

Description of incident: Lucas played a neat one-two as he entered the right hand side of the Stoke City penalty area. Higginbotham came across to challenge Lucas as he came onto the exquisite return ball. Lucas went tumbling as the ball went over the byline with both referee & linesman agreed with the decision of no penalty & goal kick to Stoke. The ref then booked Lucas for diving.

Date of Game: Saturday 16th January 2010

Home Team: Stoke City | Away Team: Liverpool

Referee: Lee Mason | Linesman: Simon Long & Mo Matadar

Decision Type: Penalty | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 4/5
Decision Type: Booking for diving | Verdict: | Decision Difficulty: 2/5

Affect on Result: Hard to say for definite as it occurred much earlier than the rest of the real action however, arguably cost Liverpool the game | Winner: Stoke City | Loser: Liverpool

Players Involved: Leiva Lucas (Liverpool) & Danny Higginbotham (Stoke City)

Summary: I'm taking the referee's position into account, as his view of the incident was a difficult one; Lucas did appear to be tumbling before contact with Higginbotham. However, as Andy Gray pointed out during the live commentary of Sky Sports, it's not Lucas' job to get out of the way of the challenge. And Higginbotham's challenge was a rash one. So, although I expect these types of calls to go either way, I still feel it was a penalty and Lee Mason got it wrong. Although on this occasion, I feel more criticism lies with the linesman as he had a better view. With regards to the booking for diving, I saw this as a relatively easy decision and felt the ref also got this one wrong. I think he was justifying his no penalty decision by making this call on the dive. Was Lucas looking for the penalty? Yes. Does that mean it wasn't a penalty or that Lucas should be punished? No.

Cheers,
WB

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