Untold ref review: Liverpool 1 – ManU 1; Man U get the most wrong calls!

By Ref Reviewer 02

The biggest game in world football my arse, the quality was appalling, the first half was dire, bad passing, poor technique, I cannot ever remember Arsenal passing the ball as badly as these two did in the first half,  an advert for the EPL`s passion, but certainly not its quality. The second half was a  better, but it had to be.

The ref was Marriner, he will be relieved that none of his decisions affected the outcome, not wanting his name to be in the headlines,  but his lack of decisions certainly did affect the outcome. The end result was a match only loosely played to the laws of the game. allowing certain players to question every decision (Ferdinand, Evra) and Suarez to fall over like a dying Swan every time he was touched. Marriner showed a reluctance to assert any authority when the game really needed it, had he done so he would have focused the players minds on playing football, and less on pushing the laws to the limit.

Ferdinand should have walked, Arguabley so should Suarez, Liverpool wanted a penalty that never was, but for me the biggest decision was on 85. Skrtel simply pulled down Hernandez as he made a run off him, it was blatant and should have been seen, the ref had a good angle as did the assistant. Had this been given man Utd would prob have won the game. Was it a caution for Skrtel, maybe, but as the ball was 20 yards away, and it was not a goal scoring opportunity, I will say a pen would have been enough.

Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	points	weight
1	Foul	Suarez	Park	C		1	1
5	Other			C	Correct advantage played for a foul on Adam	1	1
7	Foul	Downing	Smalling	C	Marriner could easily have cautioned Downing but chose not to, it was a reckless challenge after he lost the ball, the referee has set the bar very early	1	1
10	Foul	Ferdinand	Suarez	N/C	Suarez is backing in, all Rio does is jump and win the ball, Suarez falls over, Rio protests very aggressively	0	0
12	Foul	Evra	Downing	N/C	Downing dives to win a free kick, Evra reaction is aggressive	0	0
13	Foul	Kelly	Young	C		1	1
23	Foul	Smalling	Suarez	C		1	1
27	Foul	Lucas	Park	C		1	1
27	Yellow	Lucas		C	Marriner brings out a yellow as Lucas decides to bring Park down as he breaks away	1	2
28	Other			C	A foul by Jones leads to a Man Utd breakaway, good advantage played	1	1
28	Yellow	Jones		N/C	If Lucas was a caution so was Jones, Marriner has a word, but is showing inconsistency	0	0
38	Handball	Suarez		C		1	1
41	Foul	Giggs	Adam	C		1	1
41	Foul	Young	Gerrad	C		1	1
41	Yellow	Young		N/C	Young did not really challenge, Gerrad squeezed between Young and Evra, the coming together off all 3 leaving Gerrard on the ground	0	0
	Half time					11	12
			CORRECT			73,33%	66,67%
	YELLOW				1	3	33,33
	RED				0	0
	PENALTY				0	0
	GOAL				0	0
	OTHER				3	3	100,00
					4	6	66,67
	OFFSIDE				0	0
	Second half
46	Foul	Downing	Park	N/C	No foul committed	0	0
47	Foul	Lucas	Young	N/C	Young dives into Lucas and falls like a tree	0	0
48	Offside	Suarez		C		1	1
48	Foul	Welbeck	Carragher	C		1	1
48	Foul	Smalling	Downing	N/C	Ref misses a foul as Smalling holds off Downing	0	0
50	Foul	Park	Suarez	C		1	1
51	Other			C	Anfield calls for a penalty as Kuyt heads the ball onto Evans arm, Marriner is rightly having none of it	1	3
52	Foul	Ferdinand	Suarez	C	Ferdinand is behind Suarez and does not do any more than stand up and try to get tight, there is contact but Suarez falls over theatrically	1	1
52	Yellow	Ferdinand		N/C	Rio recieves his first yellow in club football since March 2009, the challenge did not warrant it, but again he argues with the ref	0	0
59	Foul	Welbeck	Gerrard	C		1	1
64	yellow	Suarez		N/C	It has kicked off between Evra and Suarez at a corner, they really are both pushing the ref hard, his reluctance to caution is surprising, as they walk away, Suarez pats Evra on the head, it is deliberate and intended to incite, Suarez at least should have been cautioned	0	0
65	Yellow	Evra		C	Evra is cautioned as the argument with Suarez continues, but still no caution for Suarez	1	2
67	Foul	Ferdinand	Adam	C	This is the challenge that many believed that Rio should have been cautioned for, there was some contact and enough to bring Adam down in a good position, Rio was in the wrong shape and challenged with his wrong foot, if the challenge was not a caution then the dissent that followed certainly was as he called adam a cheat and again argued with the ref	1	1
67	Yellow	Ferdinand		N/C	Either the challenge or the dissent was worthy of a yellow, Rio should have walked	0	0
67	Goal			C	Gerrard scores	1	3
75	Foul	Nani	Adam	C		1	1
76	Other			N/C	Ref plays an advantage but none is gained so he should have called the game back	0	0
78	Offside	Suarez		C		1	1
79	Other	Kuyt		C	High Feet	1	1
80	Offside	Hernandez		C		1	1
81	Goal	Hernandez		C		1	3
84	Offside	Suarez		C		1	1
85	Penalty	Skrtel	Hernandez	N/C	This was as clear as I have seen all season, the little man is in the box, runs behind skrtel who simply pulls him to the ground, the assistant must have seen it because they were both along the last line and on his side.	0	0
85	Foul	Henderson	Nani	N/C	The ball is running away from henderson after a bad touch, he lunges at it both feet off the ground, nani sees him coming and pulls out of the challenge, it looks like a clean tackle but only because Nani enjoys having two legs.	0	0
85	Yellow	Henderson		N/C	At the very least the challenge was worth a yellow	0	0
87	Foul	Fletcher	Suarez	N/C	Suarez again falls to the floor with no contact	0	0
87	Yellow	Suarez		N/C	He really should have been booked for this simulation	0	0
			2nd half score
	TOTAL					15	22
	%		CORRECT			55,56%	53,66%
	YELLOW				1	5	20,00
	RED				0	1	0,00
	PENALTY				0	1	0,00
	GOAL				2	2	100,00
	OTHER				2	4	50,00
					5	13	38,46
	OFFSIDE				4	4	100,00
			TOTAL SCORE
	TOTAL					26	34
	%		CORRECT			63,41%	57,63%
	YELLOW				2	8	25,00
	RED				0	1	0,00
	PENALTY				0	1	0,00
	GOAL				2	2	100,00
	OTHER				5	7	71,43
					9	19	47,37
	OFFSIDE				4	4	100,00
	Correct calls		For Liverpool		13	52,00%
			For Man Utd		12	48,00%
			Total correct calls		25
	Wrong calls		Against Liverpool		5	29,41%
			Against Man Utd		12	70,59%
			Total		17

Oh and notice the wrong calls. For the first time United have more wrong calls against them than the opposition. I really wonder what Dalglish agreed with Mike Riley when they met.