Untold Ref Review: Chelsea 3 – 3 Manchester United

Below is the ref review of the Chelsea v. Man Utd match in which Howard Webb awarded United two controversial second half penalties enabling them to claw back from a 3-0 deficit to split the spoils with a 3-3 scoreline.

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Howard Webb (2012-02-05)
Period 1
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
1	OTHER	Bosingwa	Valencia	C	Foul ? assumed correct	1
1	OTHER	Essien	Evra	C	Trip	1
3	OTHER	Evans	Torres	NC	Held ? not given	1
4	OTHER	Torres	Evans	C	Trip	1
9	PENALTY			C	Bosingwa did grab Young’s jersey, but Young threw himself to ground unnaturally ? no call probably best decision	3
9	OTHER	Young		C	Handled ball after diving to ground	1
11	OTHER	Cahill	Welbeck	NC	Trip at edge of area ? not given	1
11	PENALTY			C	Trip occurred outside penalty area	3
11	YELLOW	Cahill		NC	Cahill tried to play ball but tripped Welbeck ? should have been booked	2
12	OFFSIDE	Welbeck		C	Assumed correct	1
14	OTHER	Young	Ivanovic	C	Tackle from behind ? might have been booked, gets verbal warning	1
16	OTHER	Valencia	Essien	NC	Extends his studs dangerously to try to block clearance	1
18	OTHER	Young	Torres	C	Pulled him down	1
19	OTHER	Torres	Evra	C	Stepped on his foot from behind	1
21	OTHER	Malouda	Rafael	NC	Push ? not given	1
22	OTHER	Malouda	Welbeck	NC	Trip ? not given	1
23	OTHER	Bosingwa	Rafael	C	Pulled him back	1
24	OTHER	Rafael	Malouda	C	Trip	0
25	OTHER	Evra	Mata	C	Tripped from behind	1
26	OTHER	Essien	Welbeck	NC	Blocked Welbeck from joining in counter-attack	1
26	YELLOW	Essien		NC	Should have been booked ? unsporting behaviour	2
26	OFFSIDE	Young		C		1
27	OTHER	Malouda	Rafael	C	Trip	1
28	OTHER	Torres	Evans	C	Evans stopped short, Torres ran into back of him	1
28	YELLOW	Torres		NC	A foul, but not worth a booking	2
33	OTHER	Ivanovic	Rooney	C	Rooney flopped to ground under little contact, but I’ll give ref benefit of doubt	1
34	OTHER	Evra	Mata	C	Foul	1
36	GOAL			C	Johnny Evans own goal ? goal okay	3
43	OTHER	Carrick	Essien	C	Obstruction ? advantage played	1
44	OTHER	Luiz	Rooney	NC	Pushed Rooney wide so not able to play ball	1
44	OTHER	Ivanovic	Evra	C	Trip, got the ball but also the player ? linesman called this	1
46	OTHER	Ivanovic	Young	C	Crashed into Young	1
46	YELLOW	Rooney		NC	Rooney slammed down the ball in anger, should have been booked for dissent	2
46	YELLOW	Ivanovic		C	Reckless ? deserved yellow	2
47	OTHER	Mata	Giggs	C	Trip	1
Period 2
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
46	GOAL			C	Mata ? Good goal	3
47	OTHER	Bosingwa		NC	High kick ? not given	1
50	OTHER	Evra	Sturridge	C	Trip	1
50	YELLOW	Evra		C	Unsporting behaviour	2
50	GOAL			C	Luiz- Goal okay	3
52	OTHER	Malouda	Valencia	C	Shove	1
53	OFFSIDE	Chicharito		C	Assumed correct	1
54	OTHER	Bosingwa	Rafael	C	Foul	1
55	OTHER	Rafael	Torres	C	Foul	1
55	OTHER	Chicharito	Luiz	C	Pushed Luiz when going up for header	1
57	PENALTY	Sturridge	Evra	C	Evra tangled with Sturridge and went to ground.	3
58	GOAL			C	Rooney spot kick okay	3
59	OTHER	Valencia	Bosingwa	C	Looked like both players holding but I’ll give ref benefit of doubt	1
61	OTHER	Valencia	Bosingwa	C	Assumed correct	1
63	OTHER			NC	Ball last off Evra ? throw wrongly given to United	1
64	OTHER	Giggs	Meireles	C	Trip	1
68	PENALTY	Ivanovic	Welbeck	NC	Welbeck kicks the defender then falls down ? wrong call	3
68	YELLOW	Welbeck		NC	Should have been booked for simulation	2
69	GOAL			NC	Rooney scored from bogus penalty	3
70	OTHER	Valencia	Malouda	C	Foul	1
83	OTHER	Giggs	Meireles	C	Trip	1
84	GOAL			C	Chicharito ? goal okay	3
85	OTHER	Torres	Ferdinand	NC	Push ? not given	1
88	OTHER	Evans	Torres	NC	Tackled player before touching ball	1
88	OTHER	Essien	Scholes	C	Trip	1
91	OTHER	Scholes	Luiz	C	Block/trip	1
91	YELLOW	Scholes		NC	Should have been booked for dissent	2
93	PENALTY	Luiz	Evans	C	Luiz used position to his advantage	3
94	OFFSIDE	Chicharito		C	Assumed correct	1

United had two penalty shouts in each half.  In the 9th minute Bosingwa did grab hold of Ashley Young’s jersey and then let go as Young flopped to the ground unnaturally.  The way he fell made it look like a dive, and the ref waved to play on.  This call could have gone either way, so I’ll allow the ref his judgment on this call.

Two minutes later, Cahill tripped up Danny Welbeck at the top of the area.  Replays show that Cahill, in an attempt to play the ball tripped up Welbeck just outside the penalty area.  Howard Webb from his angle must have thought that Cahill got a touch to the ball and ignored the foul, but in fact it was Welbeck who touched the ball away from the sliding-in Cahill.  This was a good scoring chance but not necessarily and obvious goal scoring chance.  We actually took a vote on this and by 2 votes to 1 the majority felt a yellow card was the best option all the while agreeing that he might have been sent off as well.

Later in the half, Chelsea scored from a Johnny Evans’ own goal and then added two more goals quickly in the 2nd half to build a 3-0 lead at home.  Manchester United would soon start to turn things around.

In the 57th minute, Evra drove the ball into the area.  Daniel Sturridge tried to poke the ball away as Evra tried to shield it.  Evra fell to ground and Webb pointed to the penalty spot.  This was another controversial goal which we also voted on.  By a two to one split decision the majority felt that Sturridge was imprudent and stuck his leg in and marked this as a correct call.

Ten minutes later, Webb would point to the spot again as Welbeck went down under a challenge by Ivanovic.  However, we felt that the ref got this call wrong.  Ivanovic pulled out of his challenge, Welbeck more or less kicked Ivanovic’s foot and then went to ground.  It should not have been a penalty and Welbeck should have been booked for simulation.  However Webb did give the penalty kick and United made the score 3-2.  A late goal by Chicharito brought United level and that’s how the match ended, albeit with some controversy.

 

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Howard Webb (2012-02-05)
Period 1	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	1	1	100.00
OFFSIDE	2	2	100.00
OTHER	18	25	72.00
PENALTY	2	2	100.00
YELLOW	1	5	20.00
TOTAL	24	35	68.57
WEIGHTED	30	45	66.67
Period 2	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	4	5	80.00
OFFSIDE	2	2	100.00
OTHER	12	16	75.00
PENALTY	2	3	66.67
YELLOW	1	3	33.33
TOTAL	21	29	72.41
WEIGHTED	34	48	70.83
Totals	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	5	6	83.33
OFFSIDE	4	4	100.00
OTHER	30	41	73.17
PENALTY	4	5	80.00
YELLOW	2	8	25.00
TOTAL	45	64	70.31
WEIGHTED	64	93	68.82

Let us check the bias, if visible in this game

BIAS SUMMARY – Howard Webb (2012-02-05)
Period 1	Chelsea	%	Manchester United	%	Total
Correct For	11	47.83	12	52.17	23
Correct For Weighted	17	56.67	13	43.33	30
Incorrect Against	4	36.36	7	63.64	11
Incorrect Against Weighted	6	40.00	9	60.00	15
Fouls Commited	16	66.67	8	33.33	24
Fouls Penalised	11	68.75	6	75.00	17
Period 2	Chelsea	%	Manchester United	%	Total
Correct For	15	71.43	6	28.57	21
Correct For Weighted	22	64.71	12	35.29	34
Incorrect Against	6	75.00	2	25.00	8
Incorrect Against Weighted	12	85.71	2	14.29	14
Fouls Commited	6	37.50	10	62.50	16
Fouls Penalised	4	66.67	9	90.00	13
Totals	Chelsea	%	Manchester United	%	Total
Correct For	26	59.09	18	40.91	44
Correct For Weighted	39	60.94	25	39.06	64
Incorrect Against	10	52.63	9	47.37	19
Incorrect Against Weighted	18	62.07	11	37.93	29
Fouls Commited	22	55.00	18	45.00	40
Fouls Penalised	15	68.18	15	83.33	30

In the match wrong calls were fairly evenly shared by both teams with the exception of the second penalty awarded to United. The Webb-moment one could say when he throw a life line to United.

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