2022/23 PL Season – Matchweek 7 – Refereeing matters and referee repeats

• The 8 serious refereeing failings that are corrupting the Premier League

by Andrew Crawshaw

What did we learn from the referees in Matchweek 6

Manchester United v Arsenal – With a Mancunian Referee and a Mancunian VAR referee it really was no surprise that the officiating was lopsided.  We dominated the game for large parts but weren’t clinical enough with our finishing and the refereeing decisions went against us all game.

• Minute 2 Martinez for United sets the tone of their game plan with a robust challenge on Jesus, who visibly says WOW as he got back to his feet – no card of course.
• McTominay also given free licence to foul.
• Minute 12 an excellent move by Arsenal led to a fantastic goal by Martinelli.  The Mancunian VAR official invented a foul by Ødegaard in the buildup and persuaded the Mancunian referee to overturn his original decision and disallow the goal.
• Min 47 Fernandes with a high foot – I thought that was an automatic red card a couple of years ago, guess that’s another rule that isn’t enforced by the PGMO.
• Min 53 no penalty awarded after Saka taken out in the box.

Chelsea v West Ham – A diabolical decision right at the end of the game robbed West Ham of an equalising goal.  The Chelsea keeper failed to hold a shot by Thilo Kehrer which was then struck into the net by Maxwell Cornet.  Thilo’s momentum carried him over the keeper who he attempted to hurdle but his trailing foot just caught the keeper who reacted as though he had been shot.  The West Ham manager was incensed and I fully understand his reaction: he was robbed.

Newcastle v Crystal Palace – Another wrong decision by the VAR team who ruled out a Newcastle goal for a foul on the Palace keeper by Joe Willock completely ignoring the fact that Joe was clearly pushed in the back by a Palace defender propelling him into the keeper.  Newcastle very aggrieved by that decision and rightly so.

Aston Villa v Man City – Coutinho goal: disallowed for offside, something of a contentious decision, yes, he came back from an offside position but there was a deflection by a defender which arguably would negate the offside.  Another decision going the way of the big-money team.

IIWGX moments of the week (If it were Granit Xhaka)

McTominay and Maguire both being allowed to remain on the pitch despite a number of tackles that should have cut short their games

Who is on duty this coming weekend

Matchweek 7 – Saturday/Sunday/Monday

Match	Referee	Assistant Referees	4th Official	VAR referee	Assistant VAR Referee
Sat 12:30
Fulham v Chelsea	David Coote	Nick Hopton Timothy Wood	Robert Jones	Stuart Attwell	Darren Cann
Sat 15:00
Bournemouth v Brighton	Chris Kavanagh	Dan Cook Dan Robathan	James Bell	Andre Marriner	Scott Ledger
Leicester v Aston Villa	Jarred Gillett	Simon Long Richard West	Peter Bankes	Mike Dean	Mark Scholes
Liverpool v Wolves	Andy Madley	Derek Eaton Steve Meredith	Tony Harrington	John Brooks	Natalie Aspinall
Southampton v Brentford	Thomas Bramall	Adrian Holmes Wade Smith	Simon Hooper	Michael Salisbury	Neil Davies
Sat 17:30
Man City v Spurs	Michael Oliver	Stuart Burt Simon Bennett	Darren England	Paul Tierney	Marc Perry
Sun 14:00
Arsenal v Everton	Simon Hooper	James Mainwaring Mark Scholes	Thomas Bramall	Mike Dean	Dan Cook
Sun 14:00
West Ham v Newcastle	Craig Pawson	Marc Perry Scott Ledger	Anthony Taylor	Paul Tierney	Adam Nunn
Sun 16:30
Crystal Palace v Man United	Stuart Attwell	Lee Betts Harry Lennard	Robert Jones	Chris Kavanagh	Dan Robathan
Monday 20:00
Leeds v Notts Forest	Anthony Taylor	Gary Beswick Adam Nunn	Paul Tierney	Mike Dean	Timothy Wood

The Curse of the Repeating Referee

I have now had enough time to fully check which referees have been appointed to which clubs this year and the number of repeat visits is rapidly mounting.

Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver have been the busiest overall each having been on whistle duty six weeks out of seven.

When it comes to VAR officials, Mike Dean has been on call 9 times, Lee Mason 8 times and Paul Tierney 7.

Man United have had repeat visits from two referees –  Paul Tierney and Stuart Attwell so only five different referees in seven games.

The following clubs have had repeat visits from one referee

• Leicester – Jarred Gillet
• Liverpool – Andy Madley
• Man City – Michael Oliver
• Wolves – John Brooks NB he has only been given the nod in three games so far so why has he been to Wolves twice!

I’ll try and do a full breakdown of who has done what after the officials are announced for matchweek 9 the quarter point in the season.

• FC Zurich V Arsenal in the Europa League
• Clubs are being encouraged to tackle more and more by the referee’s approach.
• Suddenly a key set of referee statistics does not appear.  Why is that?