Former top flight referee Gavin Twattwell takes a look back over the first few weeks of the season and gives his opinion on the the controversial decisions made by the officials in the month of August.
The first place to start will be the game between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield on 17th August. There were two controversial decisions in this game which resulted in a goal disallowed for Bournemouth and a goal allowed for Liverpool.
Bournemouth defender Michael Elphick
First of all the Bournemouth goal in my opinion was chalked off quite correctly by the official. The big cumbersome defender who obviously lacks any finesse and technique throws himself up in the air to score with a header and brushes Dejan Lovren (the majestic and cultured Liverpool defender) which of course results in the latter falling to the ground in obvious pain. Some might say the Liverpool man made a meal of it and it wasn’t a foul, but all of those who say that are just Bournemouth fans and quite frankly you are all wrong. It is wonderful defending from Lovren who uses all his experience and know-how to convince the referee in to making the RIGHT decision. The Bournemouth defender Michael Elphick or whatever his name is could learn a lot from this and I urge him to take a leaf out of Lovren’s book if he wants to succeed at this level.
The biggest talking point in this game however was Christian Benteke’s first goal for Liverpool, should it have stood? Of course it should if you take into account that even though Coutinho is offside and goes to play the ball from an offside position, the home team Liverpool were nearly a goal down only a few minutes before and unfortunately there may not have been any more chances to score for the Reds in the game and as a former top flight referee I know you have to make these decision’s quickly. Luckily the assistant referee didn’t make the call for offside although I am sure that in this circumstance even if he had the ref would have made the right decision and overruled the jumped up little flag waver.
In the end there is no controversy and the bigger team won. I mean who the hell do Bournemouth think the are going to Anfield and thinking the should get more than a loss. I remember officiating in a Bournemouth game back in the 90’s when they were just an amateur club, I think they were in the Vauxhall Conference or some god awful league, they had that clown Redknapp managing them. I remember sending off 2 of their players that day, serves them right, the cocky little Southerners.
Bournemouth striker Owen Wilson’s guilty look.
I will move on now to a subject of dangerous play, and moreover the high kick. I was very surprised to see a goal given this weekend , funnily enough to Bournemouth’s Owen Wilson. How his acrobatic effort was allowed to stand is beyond me as he nearly took the Leicester City defenders face off as he struck the ball. You can tell by Wilson’s reaction after he scored when he guiltily turned to look over at the official’s that he knew he had cheated.
Luckily on the opening day of the season Jerome Flynn’s overhead kick was RIGHTLY ruled out by the referee against Palace. For me there is no debate anybody who feels the need to jump up in the air and volley a ball is just showing off, it is also very dangerous. People might say but what about Wayne Rooney’s goal against Man City or what about Pele against the Germans for the allies in Escape to Victory, I say get back to me when Jerome Flynn and Owen Wilson are as good as Pele or Wayne Rooney and you might have an argument, until then shut it!!
He’s a low flying Sweeper Keeper
The next thing I would like to talk about is Goalkeepers. In the years when I was just a little wannabe ref, pissing off my friends who didn’t understand the importance of having rules and laws in their ridiculous 20 aside kickabout’s their wasn’t a lot of football on the telly, probably only once in all those years did I see a keeper come out of his area to kick a ball, and I certainly never, ever saw a goalkeeper in the opposing area. As far as I’m concerned the clue is in the name GOALKEEPER!! Stay in goal, if I had my way any goalkeeper who comes out of his area should be automatically booked, if I was reffing now and I turned round to see a goalkeeper in the oppositions half I would find a way of getting him sent off. It’s a damn right liberty if you ask me. Sweeper keeper, do one!!
As you can imagine I was more than happy with West Ham goalkeeper receiving his marching orders against Leicester. The dismissal was a double whammy, first of all Adrian comes up for a corner in the other teams area and then after making himself look a tit he races out of the other area and kicks the poor onrushing Jamie Vardy straight in the kisser. The truth is it doesn’t matter that Vardy has stooped for the ball and should really go for it with his foot, Adrian turns around and obviously sees Vardy coming before unleashing what can only be described as a kung fu kick into the poor little England striker’s face. West Ham actually thought they had a case for appeal based on the grounds that he he couldn’t see the player and was only trying to turn the ball back into the area. Mugs, he fully deserves his red card and 3 match ban if I had my way I would have added a bit more into my report so his ban would have been lengthened.
I once sent a goalkeeper off in some tin pot cup match, he was a right confident so and so, so when his team were trailing and he decided to come up for a last minute corner, I saw my chance, the away fans may have thought that the keeper didn’t do much to get sent off but as far as I was concerned as soon as the defender went down holding his face in agony there was only one decision to make. Your off gobby keeper!!
Like all very good referee’s as I reached the end of my career I was lucky to have a team of assistants who came to every game I officiated in, those 2 linesman were the people I trusted most in life even more than my family. It wasn’t always the case though as before I became so well respected I had to rely on some proper doughnuts, some of which I am reluctant to say have ended up going on to be Premier League referee’s. One time they even teamed me up with a woman linesman, I ask you!! They’ll be playing the game next!!
Linespeople, whatever next a Woman PM!!
Unless you have a trusted team of officials alongside you it is important you research the linesman you will be working with, the last thing you need as a top flight referee is a Lino who wants to be a ref, the constant flag waving for freekicks in a game really annoys me, once or twice is ok but all the time it is far too much. If I had what I would call a” busy Linesman” I would put them in their place and tell them I would just like them to concentrate on offsides and throw ins, as to be fair it is normally too much to ask for them to think about making the decisions for fouls as well, their tiny little brains struggle enough, bless them!!
Did you see the linesman in the game on Saturday between Stoke and WBA when Stoke midfielder Charlie Adams stamped on an opposing players leg, fair enough he saw the incident and flagged but there was absolutely no reason for the busy little wanabee to be running over and jumping about on the pitch, at the end of the day who does he think he is. I feel sorry for the ref in that incident as he is the only person we should be talking about come the end of the game.
To be fair the only decision that I would have questioned in the early part of the season would be the dismissal of Courtois for Chelsea against Swansea in the first weekend of the season, I thought the keeper was very unlucky and anywhere else on the pitch and by any other player it is a freekick and maybe a yellow card so I was a bit surprised to see the young Belgian get his marching orders. Sometimes the ref has to make a quick decision and they can’t always get it right every time. The worst thing about it was that I had Chelsea in my accumulator that weekend and it meant I missed out on a monkey!!
I hope I have given you a real insight into the art and skill you need to be a referee and I look forward to telling you how it is next time, until then just remember shut up, don’t give me verbal’s and it doesn’t matter what you think I’m in charge.
Now get off my pitch!!
cockneybyritesagameofheadersandvolleys.wordpress.com 