Untold Ref Review: Chelsea 0 – 2 Newcastle United

This article is part of a series stretching over several seasons in which a team of referees analyse the work of refs in Premier League matches.

Our figures show that when we analyse the errors made by refs there are consistent trends which do not “even out” through the season, as some commentators would have it.    All the earlier ref reviews plus analyses of the errors made by refs, and articles relating to our campaign to have the body which organises referees activities reformed, plus an analysis of the background to this campaign, can be found on:

• Untold Ref Reviews …
• Untold Corruption …

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Today’s referee is Mark Halsey –

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Mark Halsey (2012-05-02)
Period 1
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
1	OFFSIDE	Torres		C	Correctly onside	1
4	OTHER	Tiote	Torres	C	Trip from behind	1
4	YELLOW	Tiote		C	Unsporting behaviour	2
7	OTHER	Tiote	Ramires	NC	Trip, advantage played which was quickly lost, not given	1
14	OTHER	Sturridge	Santon	C	Trip	1
14	OTHER	Bertrand		C	Handball	1
17	OTHER	Mikel	Cabaye	NC	Trip, not given	1
19	GOAL	Cisse		C	Goal okay	3
21	OFFSIDE	Jonas		C		1
22	OFFSIDE	Ba		C	Assumed correct	1
31	OTHER	Cisse	Terry	C	Foul	1
32	OFFSIDE	Ramires		C		1
34	OTHER	Mikel	Ba	C	Trip	1
37	OTHER			NC	Ball crossed line, should have been Chelsea corner	1
41	OTHER	Mikel	Cisse	C	Trip	1
41	OTHER	Bosingwa	Jonas	C	Jonas skipped past 2 defenders then tripped from behind	1
41	YELLOW	Bosingwa		NC	Should have been booked	2
43	OFFSIDE	Ba		C		1
Period 2
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
46	OTHER	Bosingwa	Jonas	NC	Shove, not given	1
48	OTHER	Perch		NC	Unintentional handball from close range, ref should have ignored it	1
52	OTHER	Bertrand	Ben Arfa	C	Late, trip	1
53	OFFSIDE	Mata		C	Just off	1
55	OFFSIDE	Torres		C		1
56	OTHER	Cabaye	Ramires	C	Briefly used arm to check Ramires’ run with ball	1
56	YELLOW	Cabaye		C	Harsh because Ramires went down easily, but okay	2
57	OTHER	Ben Arfa	Mikel	NC	Shove, not given	1
60	OTHER	Mikel	Tiote	NC	Mikel goes into aerial duel with raised elbow to Tiote’s head	1
60	RED	Mikel		NC	Should have been sent off for violent play	3
60	OTHER			C	Ref stops play for head injury to Tiote	1
70	OTHER	Terry	Ben Arfa	NC	Dangerous play, studs over ball, no contact, not given	1
73	OTHER	Ivanovic	Ba	C	Forearm into back	1
73	YELLOW	Ivanovic		NC	Should have been booked	2
75	OTHER	Ben Arfa	Bertrand	C	Little tug, advantage played	1
75	OTHER	R Taylor	Bertrand	C	Foul	1
76	OTHER			C	Chelsea tried to take quick free kick as ref set up wall, correctly denied	1
78	OTHER	Ameobi		C	Handball	1
82	OTHER	Cisse	Mikel	C	Shove	1
83	OTHER	Cabaye	Mata	NC	Little trip, not given	1
84	OFFSIDE	Cisse		C		1
90	YELLOW	Krul		C	Time wasting	2
94	GOAL	Cisse		C	Goal okay	3
95	OTHER	Terry	Perch	C	Push	1
98	OTHER	Mata	Jonas	C	Trip	1
99	OTHER	Terry	Jonas	C	Foul	1
101	OFFSIDE	Mata		C		1

Mark Halsey took charge as Chelsea played host to Newcastle.  Chelsea seemed to be more concerned with their cup matches than their premier league matches and Di Matteo rested or rotated several key players.  Drogba, Lampard, Mata, Cole, all started on the bench, and accordingly this match didn’t have all the hard fought characteristics that you might have seen considering it was two teams vying for a Champions League spot.

Chelsea were somewhat the favourable side as far as wrong decisions go, especially when it came to bookings.  Three Newcastle players were cautioned with yellows however not one Chelsea player was cautioned.

In the first half, Bosingwa might have been booked for tripping Jonas Gutierez after the newcastle player skipped past two Chelsea players, and Ivanovic should have been cautioned in the second half for putting his forearm into the back of Demba Ba.

However the most controversial moment of the match concerned a head injury to Cheick Tioté when he clashed with Mikel in an aerial duel.  Mikel went into the challenge with his arms raised and caught Tiote with an elbow to the head.  Sometimes it’s hard to judge intent and Halsey must have thought it was an accidental coming together of two players.  In the replays however it looked that Mikel played in a dangerous manner resulting in a serious head injury to the Newcastle player.  Tiote was treated on the pitch for about 8 minutes, and went off on a stretcher, receiving oxygen.  Note that Tiote was given sutures after being taken off the pitch and was able to start Newcastle’s match the following week.

http://i.minus.com/ibwEPHx9AgGINX.gif

Newcastle were able to hold onto their 1 goal lead until Papiss Cissé sealed the win with a wonder strike in injury time giving the Geordies a 2-0 win, their first at Stamford Bridge since November of 1986.

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Mark Halsey (2012-05-02)
Period 1	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	1	1	100.00
OFFSIDE	5	5	100.00
OTHER	7	10	70.00
YELLOW	1	2	50.00
TOTAL	14	18	77.78
WEIGHTED	17	22	77.27
Period 2	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	1	1	100.00
OFFSIDE	4	4	100.00
OTHER	12	18	66.67
RED	0	1	0.00
YELLOW	2	3	66.67
TOTAL	19	27	70.37
WEIGHTED	23	34	67.65
Totals	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	2	2	100.00
OFFSIDE	9	9	100.00
OTHER	19	28	67.86
RED	0	1	0.00
YELLOW	3	5	60.00
TOTAL	33	45	73.33
WEIGHTED	40	56	71.43

Mark Halsey and his officiating crew did manage to get 73.33% of the decisions correct, however the referee’s weak spot was the one-sidedness of the distribution of the cards.

BIAS SUMMARY – Mark Halsey (2012-05-02)
Period 1	Chelsea	%	Newcastle United	%	Total
Correct For	7	50.00	7	50.00	14
Correct For Weighted	8	47.06	9	52.94	17
Incorrect Against	2	50.00	2	50.00	4
Incorrect Against Weighted	2	40.00	3	60.00	5
Fouls Commited	6	66.67	3	33.33	9
Fouls Penalised	5	83.33	2	66.67	7
Period 2	Chelsea	%	Newcastle United	%	Total
Correct For	8	42.11	11	57.89	19
Correct For Weighted	10	43.48	13	56.52	23
Incorrect Against	2	25.00	6	75.00	8
Incorrect Against Weighted	2	18.18	9	81.82	11
Fouls Commited	8	53.33	7	46.67	15
Fouls Penalised	5	62.50	5	71.43	10
Totals	Chelsea	%	Newcastle United	%	Total
Correct For	15	45.45	18	54.55	33
Correct For Weighted	18	45.00	22	55.00	40
Incorrect Against	4	33.33	8	66.67	12
Incorrect Against Weighted	4	25.00	12	75.00	16
Fouls Commited	14	58.33	10	41.67	24
Fouls Penalised	10	71.43	7	70.00	17

The bias index is in favour of Chelsea.

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