Untold Ref Review: Blackburn 0 – Man City 4

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

With over 2000 followers: Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal

Background: Initially Untold Arsenal started to publish referee reviews of Arsenal matches, and through this we found some evidence of what appeared to be consistent bias by referees against Arsenal.  The point was then made we would get a better overall picture of what is going on if we also analysed errors made by referees in non-Arsenal EPL games as well.  And that’s what we do.

By Ref Reviewer 03

Manchester City travelled to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers.  The Ref was Phil Dowd.

Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight
2 OTHER Zabaleta Hoilett C Foul – advantage played 1 1
2 OTHER Goodwillie Balotelli C Trip 1 1
4 OTHER Balotelli Nzonzi C Trip 1 1
6 OTHER Goodwillie Kolarov C Trip 1 1
8 OTHER Milner C Handball 1 1
11 OTHER Yakubu Yaya C Yakubu pulled back Yaya a bit deep in City’s own half – Dowd waited 5 seconds to see if there was advantage given, then gave the call, probably should’ve given foul right away 1 1
13 OTHER Yaya Goodwillie C Foul 1 1
29 OTHER Goodwillie Hart NC Goodwillie played for the ball, Hart ran into him.  I didn’t see it as a foul 0 0
30 OFFSIDE Yakubu C Offside – advantage played 1 1
31 OTHER Zabaleta Hoilett C A bit late and head to head contact on the defender – good call 1 1
32 OTHER Nzonzi Lescott C Had his arms over the City defender 1 1
33 OTHER Hoilett Johnson C Trip 1 1
41 OTHER Lescott Goodwillie C Foul 1 1
45 OTHER Hoilett Zabaleta C Shove 1 1
45+1 OTHER Kolarov Pedersen C Shove 1 1
Half time 14 14
CORRECT 93,33% 93,33%
YELLOW 0 0
RED 0 0
PENALTY 0 0
GOAL 0 0
OTHER 1 1 100,00
1 1 100,00
OFFSIDE 1 1 100,00
Second half
47 OTHER Kompany Nzonzi C Clash of heads – free kick to Blackburn – good call by the ref 1 1
50 OTHER Balotelli Goodwillie C Trip 1 1
53 OTHER Zabaleta Pedersen C Zabaleta got a slight touch but made a hard trip 1 1
56 GOAL C Johnson – goal okay 1 3
58 OTHER Givet Milner C Rash challenge by givet, ref first waited to see if advantage developed 1 1
58 YELLOW Givet C dangerous play 1 2
59 OTHER Nasri NC Handball – not given 0 0
59 GOAL NC Balotelli scored from a Nasri cross after Nasri had handled the ball – shouldn’t have counted 0 0
61 OTHER Zabaleta Hoilett C Trip 1 1
66 OTHER Nasri Givet C Defender tripped deep in his own half – no advantage there, good call 1 1
67 OTHER Kolarov Formica C Foul 1 1
69 PENALTY Zabaleta c Dive – no penalty 1 3
69 YELLOW Zabaleta C Simulation – dived in the penalty area 1 2
73 GOAL C Nasri – goak okay 1 3
83 OTHER Lowe Silva C Trip 1 1
87 GOAL C Savic – goal okay 1 3
90+2 OTHER Zabaleta Pedersen C Trip 1 1
2nd half score
TOTAL 15 25
% CORRECT 88,24% 86,21%
YELLOW 2 2 100,00
RED 0 0
PENALTY 1 1 100,00
GOAL 3 4 75,00
OTHER 1 2 50,00
7 9 77,78
OFFSIDE 0 0
TOTAL SCORE
TOTAL 29 39
% CORRECT 90,63% 88,64%
YELLOW 2 2 100,00
RED 0 0
PENALTY 1 1 100,00
GOAL 3 4 75,00
OTHER 2 4 50,00
8 11 72,73
OFFSIDE 1 1 100,00
Correct calls For Blackburn 16 55,17%
For Man City 13 44,83%
Total correct calls 29
Wrong calls Against Blackburn 3 100,00%
Against Man City 0 0,00%
Total 3

It’s hard to believe this was the same Phil Dowd some of us are used to because not only did he look leaner and fitter, he made almost no mistakes in this match, scoring a very high 90.63%.

Unfortunately one of the mistakes he did make was costly.  Manchester City had just taken the lead minutes earlier from a nicely curved shot by Adam Johnson and were threatening again.  Blackburn were trying to get the ball out when Samir Nasri used his right arm to block the ball.  Nasri then went straight forward, crossed the ball for Balotelli who poked the ball into the net at the near post, a goal that shouldn’t have counted.

Manchester City were always the better side in this match and were leading 1-0 at the time, but this second goal effectively took the fight out of the Blackburn side, and City ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.

It’s unfortunate for Dowd that that one call ruined a near perfect performance for him because it looked like he was really concentrating on putting in a good shift.  It was almost as if he had been reading the reviews here and taken the advice to heart.

PS: The ref reviews are based on TV images. We are depending on what the images show and the given replays to base our reviews. If we cannot review some incidents we presume that the ruling on the field was correct.

If you are a ref and wish to join our team of reviewers just send a mail to walterbroeckx@hotmail.com

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7 Replies to “Untold Ref Review: Blackburn 0 – Man City 4”

  1. Will you be commenting on the issue of relegation? I think it is an economic necessity as the teams going down just lose to much money. If there is a super league in the future I don’t see relegation as a part of it, for this reason. While I can see that it adds drama to the seasons end it worked better when the financial issues where much less significant. The MLS does not have relegation and never will. I think one way they add drama is the playoffs. Maybe this ought to be considered. Does not Brazil have two seasons? Anyway I would like to hear your thoughts.
    Mark

  2. I don’t know if this is just something that sounds good in my head and let me also add that I don’t know too much about refereeing..but it would be interesting to see how many times each team gets the same ref. For example..how many times manu get howard webb. Again I don’t know much about refereeing and how its organized, but I just feel it would be interesting to know if certain teams get more games by a particular ref and if this might have an influence on games. Any thoughts? Am I horribly off? Anyway keep up the good job with the ref reviews, you guys are making history

  3. Thanks for the report- excellent stuff. Dowd is a wonderful ref but for reasons best known to him–when he refs Arsenal– he definitely is not!!. Like Webb,(23 out of 25 wrong decisions favoured Sunderland) the difference when they ref Arsenal beggars belief and keeps that dodgy, nagging, pot on the boil. Why oh why oh why? Isn’t it amazing how much better Arsenal do in Europe with ‘agenda free’ refs!!!! Our spineless ex-fourth estate love Arsenal stories but print rubbish whilst ignoring the persistent bullying by match officials—the best and longest running story of all (this is the third season). Come on- when the level playing field goes– we are on the slippery slope to the game not being worth a candle. The evidence is there! Use it!

  4. I’ve never seen Dowd ref a game like this before. He kept a tight rein and called almost every infraction.
    Compare this to Howard Webb who last weekend more or less gave Sunderland a license to foul.

  5. Nothing about Dowds performance would encourage me when it comes to officiating an Arsenal match this shows when it suits him he can be fair even though it was still with a huge mistake that allowed city go 2-0 up and effectively end the game it may have been 1 mistake but its costly as at 1-0 anythings possible.

  6. I have to agree with RedGooner here, the fact that he can be a good ref means that when it come to reffing The Arsenal he not just incompetent he is actually bent.

  7. As we haven’t had Dowd yet this season we’ll probably get him for the Chelsea game away ;(

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