By Johnny Deigh, another Untold ref
So once again Johnny has taken the immense task upon him to review a Manchester United game. I can barely watch them once so looking twice at their games is a hell of a job. And as the ref was our dear and beloved friend Phil Dowd it was interesting to see how he did his job this time.
| Min | Type | Decision | C/NC | points | weight | on |
| 1 | OTHER | foul on Suarez by Smalling | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | OTHER | foul on suarez by brown | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | OTHER | foul on nani by johnson | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | OTHER | offside on Liverpool, advantage played | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | OTHER | foul on Brown, advantage played, should have given the foul | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | OTHER | foul on suarez by giggs | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | OTHER | foul on maxi by rooney | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | OTHER | high kick by Nani not penalised | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | OTHER | foul on gerrard by evra | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | OTHER | offside berbatov | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | OTHER | foul by suarez on smalling | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | OTHER | offside on berbatov – looked same line, shot off target | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 | OTHER | foul by kuyt on rafael | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | OTHER | suarez wants a foul called against evra – not called – looked shoulder to shoulder | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 32 | OTHER | foul by scholes on Lucas | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 33 | OTHER | dowd lets scholes encroach on free kick | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | GOAL | goal by Kuyt – fine goal – Kuyt’s tap-in saves what would have been an OG by Evra. VdS complained of offside, but Kuyt was behind the ball when Suarez shot. | c | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 37 | OTHER | foul on VdS by kuyt | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 39 | GOAL | goal by Kuyt – Suarez’ cross was headed back by Nani – goal okay | c | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 45 | OTHER | foul by carragher on Nani | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 45 | CARD | yellow card given – studs to shin, it should have been red | nc | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 45+2 | CARD | VDS booked for dissent – a lot of refs don’t like seeing keepers leave their goal to complain | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 45+4 | OTHER | foul by Maxi on Rafael – not given | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 45+4 | CARD | Maxi should have been booked for showing his studs in a high challenge | nc | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 45+4 | OTHER | foul by rafael – given – Dowd lost control of the match here – should have given the 1st foul on Rafael by Maxi | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 45+4 | CARD | Rafael’s ugly 2-footed lunge should have seen red – Maxi’s previous foul doesn’t excuse this. | nc | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 45+5 | CARD | Skrtel booked for shoving Rafael – strange that Dowd never booked Nolan for shoving Diaby | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 45+5 | CARD | Rafael only booked for initial lunge, not for shoving back – strange Dowd motioned 2 pushes when he sent off diaby with a straight red but lets rafael get away with it. | nc | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 45+6 | OTHER | Evra shoves Kuyt – not given | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 49 | OTHER | foul on kuyt by rafael – advantage played | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 49 | OTHER | Foul by rooney on carragher – advantage played | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 52 | OTHER | foul by lucas on rooney | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 53 | OTHER | foul by kuyt on Evra | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 55 | OTHER | foul on Chicharito | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 57 | OTHER | Meireles fouled by scholes – not called | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 59 | PENALTY | Berbatov wrongly appeals for a handball clearance off the line – Meireles blocked it with his chest – no call is right | c | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 59 | OTHER | Foul on Berbatov by Krygiakos – wrongly given – berbatov backs into K. | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 64 | OTHER | foul on kuyt by brown | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 65 | GOAL | goal by kuyt – a little movement in the wall but it’s relatively normal | c | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 67 | OTHER | MU defender’s arm pulled back – not given, advantage played | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 68 | OTHER | foul by smalling on kuyt | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 69 | OTHER | foul by gerrard on carrick | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 70 | OTHER | offside called on berbatov | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 73 | OTHER | foul on suarez by evra | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 75 | OTHER | handball by carrick | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 75 | OTHER | foul by lucas on rooney – advantage played – not really an advantage, but Chicharito retains possession | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 75 | OTHER | Chicharito had the ball for a couple of seconds, then tried to find Berbatov at the far post, but was unsuccessful. Dowd now decides to give the earlier foul, but the ref cannot play advantage for one team, let them try to score, then if they don’t score, bring the ball back to the initial foul. Liverpool players are incensed and rightly so. | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 77 | OTHER | Foul on Berbatov by Maxi | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 79 | OTHER | foul on suarez by evra – not given | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 81 | OTHER | foul on Kyrgiakos by berbatov – not given | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 83 | OTHER | foul by scholes on suarez | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 83 | CARD | yellow card – trip from behind to kill attack | c | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 84 | OTHER | foul on suarez by Brown – not given | nc | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 84 | CARD | Brown went to ground, got the ball but the player too– should’ve seen yellow | nc | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 89 | OTHER | foul on suarez by evra | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 90 | OTHER | 3 added minutes | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 90+1 | GOAL | goal by Chicharito – normal | c | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 37 | 48 | 75 | |||
| % | 64,91% | 64,00% | ||||
| CARD | 2 | 6 | 33,33 | |||
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||
| GOAL | 4 | 4 | 100,00 | |||
| OTHER | 1 | 6 | 16,67 | |||
| 8 | 17 | 47,06 |
Dowd saved two players from a 3 game ban. Rafael and Carragher. By giving them a yellow card he saved them from a well deserved ban.
Another interesting data is who favoured the most incorrect calls. And in this Liverpool was getting the benefit 8 times and MU 12 times.
And some additional notes from the other Untold ref, Walter Broeckx
So another Dowd performance. He just doesn’t recognise a dangerous tackle even when the blood comes pouring out. He is a danger for all players when he is on the field. Arshavin survived a dangerous foul and Diaby escaped a terrible injury against Newcastle and Dowd even didn’t give the fouls but as we all know he was “do(wd)ing” some other things at that time.
Like I said after the Newcastle game it would be a nice gesture if Dowd just would stop his refereeing in the EPL. He clearly is not up to the task anymore.
Thanks Johnny for this review.
The quality of refs is just shocking in EPL. They’re having far too much influence on results now. There is barely a game that doesn’t have a shocking refereeing decision in it.
And on the evidence of last night, Europe isn’t much better.
If they’d only cloned Pier Luigi Collina 30 years ago.
I fail to understand why EUFA selects Barcelona supporters who masquarade as refs to officiate important matches against Arsenal. They spoiled our final in 2006 and they have done it again. Why inflict pain to innocent people. Now they want to charge Arsene. For what? After being punished already unjustifiable red card to Van Persie.
Diaby shoving Barton is a red card, Carragher’s leg break is only a yellow.
It wouldn’t have anything to do with nationality or skin colour now would it Mr Dowd?
*potential leg breaker
I don’t think anyone can say Dowd affected the result. He certainly didn’t.
The only things you can go at him for are the two non-sendings off.
I think everyone can agree that it’s past ridiculous for stroppy handbags push and shove to be a red but a potential leg-breaker to be a yellow. There’s a huge difference between a fist to the face and a push to the shoulders. And it’s madness amongst administrators that they can’t see that. It’s not dangerous, it’s puerile. So it’s a yellow not a red. That’s how the law needs to be changed.
I think everyone can agree that penalty area antics now resemble a rugby scrum more than a football pitch and it is more than past due that referees were given public backing to take decisive action.
I think it’s more than past due for goalkeepers to stop getting ridiculous protection when attackers fairly challenge in the air. There’s needs to be a review of the laws there too.
Finally, I think it’s mroe than past due for both sides to be able to nominate up to 5 referees that they are not happy to take charge of a particular game. So long as there are 20 referees on the rota, there will always be ten acceptable to both sides and usually a lot more.
Out of interest Johnny/Walter, which five would you nominate as unacceptable for Arsenal??!!
Only five?
Chilawidzi
They want to charge Arsene Wenger for effectively chanting ‘You’re not fit to referee!’ I suspect he called him a fucking incompetent cunt in the tunnel too. The media reported ‘heated in-your-face exchanges’ in the tunnel, which is rather stronger than a full and frank exchange of views, me thinks……
If I were Wenger I would make a full, detailed and passionate case and say that it is not a crime to highlight deficiencies of the referee when it has materially affected the progress of his club in a highly financially rewarding competition. It is in fact his duty as the manager. You might like to send him a copy of a highly detailed refereeing report on the match if your analysis concludes that institutional bias manifested itself during the game…….
i thnk d entire fifa and uefa refering need to be review, b4 futball loose its glamour. Referees are joy killer period.
@Rhys, I’m sure dogface or Walter would probably be better on picking five, but I’d say: Dean, Webb, Walton, Atkinson, Clattenburg. Dowd used to be alright for us, but this season he he has been poor.
As to Dowd’s performace in the Liverpool – United match, United fans feel hard done by, but my view of it is that the first half was fairly evenly called (poorly at times) with both sides benefiting or being punished by wrong calls.
You might argue that United might have got something from the match being 2-0 down and with Carragher sent off, insinuating that Rafael wouldn’t have lost his head and made that X-rated lunge on Lucas which started a shoving match. Nonetheless both sides should have had a player sent off in the first half.
Now, if you look at the wrong calls in the 2nd half, almost all of them benefited United – I counted 7 non-correct calls benefiting United, and only 2 benefiting Liverpool. Note that of Liverpool 2, one was for a tug on a United defender in which the ref played on and United did retain possession. The other was for advantage played to United when Dowd should have given United a dangerous free kick at the top of the area. Dowd played advantage and let United try to score, but when they didn’t, Dowd backtracked and gave the original foul (too late in my opinion). So Liverpool didn’t benefit from that.
Interesting though is that reports are that Manchester United’s general manager, David Gill, was giving hell to Mike Riley, the man in charge of the EPL referees. http://tinyurl.com/6fw5c7v
I bet Fergie gave Dowd an earful too at the break.
I really like these new additions for Refreviews. Good job Johnny.
Bit off topic (but relating comments) can anyone tell what Samir Nasri did last night because he is charged too with Wenger (RvP will not get anything for calling ref a joke, which is good thing)?
@Rhys, you have my vote, I don’t mind Arsene voiced his opinion to the refs at that game, the stronger the better, I wish he would do more in each and every other game in the EPL, too often there’s just a cautious and polite assessment after the games when clearly our players are chopped into pieces and treated unfairly. As the manager of the team he has the duty to voice the frustration of his players and fight for them when treated wrongly at the field.
Walter! Itching to read your Ref Review of game last night. On ur Facebook page you say “it’s up on site”, but i can’t find it.
Ref done us good and proper!!
A thought just occurred to me. We all know that actions were taken against the Italian teams involved in the Calciopoli scandal. But was any action taken against the refs?
@FinnGooner, apparently Samir joined in with Wenger in criticising the ref to his face in the tunnel. Robin only did it on television, but he might get charged later.
hey does any one know chris foy`s statistics against us this season? he is the ref at old trafford wat to expect apart from the usual “this is old trafford” bs?
Chris Foy has reffed us 3 times this season with three somewhat narrow victories, 2-1 away to Blackburn, 1-0 home against Fulham, and most recently the 2-0 home win against Wolves.
While we have a perfect record this season with him in charge, I find it astonishing that in those three matches he only issued 2 yellow cards – less than one booking per match!
I don’t remember very well the blackburn and fulham matches but I do remember that I felt Fubar (what a name!) should have been booked a few times in that match. He was only booked once.
Manchester United are also undefeated in the 5 matches Chris Foy has reffed for them this season – 3 wins, 2 draws.
Good job Johnny, really like this format of the ref reviews!
Is it just me or does it seem that almost no ref is now able to attain a good performance in any of the very high profile matches?! Was it so much better in the old days, particularly with the likes of Collina, or are we just more critical and aware now?!
Collina was so good. He always seemed to make the right call. He knew how to command respect and the players did respect him.
There may have been a couple of others who were almost as good as he was at the time, but today we get the likes of Massimo Busacca and Howard Webb reffing big finals. What happened?
I suspect this guy may be as pissed off as was RvP.
http://www.iol.co.za/sport/soccer/world-leagues/player-sent-off-for-tackling-streaker-1.1038842
Foy lets a lot go in his games. Despite us winning 3 games he never got a high score. In fact each time it was a low score….
GF60, how ridiculous it may see but the ref had not option.
A player that does something aggressive against someone must get a red card. It doesn’t matter who he aggresses: another player, a team mate, a spectator, a ref, an assistant, even if a Marsian would land on the field… players are not allowed to attack anyone or should get a red card.
So I must give him 3 points for that. 🙂
The problem is NOT enough refs out there let ARSENAL WIN!!