Untold Ref Review: Manchester City 3 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur

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Today’s referee is Howard Webb – How was his score at the end of the day?

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Howard Webb (2012-01-22)
Period 1
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
7	OTHER	Clichy	Walker	C	Push	1
9	OTHER	Parker	Nasri	NC	Kicked him on the ankle	1
10	YELLOW	Clichy		C	Prevens a quick throw in by blocking the ball with his hands. Ref had no option but to book him	2
17	OTHER	Savic	Defoe	NC	Held him by his arm, not given	1
23	OFFSIDE	ManC		C	correct	1
24	OTHER	Lennon	Clichy	C	Push	1
24	OTHER	Dzeko	Parker	C	Push	1
25	OTHER	VDVaart	Dzeko	C	Push	1
26	OTHER	Parker	Dzeko	C	came in a bit late	1
33	OTHER	Milner	Modric	C	Trip	1
35	OTHER	Lescott	Bale	C	Trip	1
35	YELLOW	Lescott		NC	A promising attack and if he wouldn’t have been fouled he could have been in a dangerous position. Ref only speaks to him	2
39	OTHER	VDVaart	Barry	C	Trip	1
39	YELLOW	VDVaart		NC	Vdvaart shows openly and strong how unhappy he is with the decision. No card for dissent? Wealk from the ref	2
40	OTHER	Richards	Bale	C	Trip	1
42	OTHER	Walker	Aguaro	NC	Held him by his arm, not given	1
Period 2
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
48	PENALTY	Kaboul		C	A cross from 1 meter out hits the arm of the defender who held his arm in front of his body. Correct no penalty given	3
50	OTHER	Defoe	Savic	C	Pulled the defender by the shirt	1
52	OTHER	Parker	Aguero	C	Held him by the arm and finaly tripped him	1
52	YELLOW	Parker		C	Continuing fouling, correct card	2
52	PENALTY	Essou ekoto	Savic	NC	The defeneder was holing Savic by his arm so he couldn’t jump to win the header and the ball was played in his direction.	3
54	OTHER	Vdvaart	Nasri	C	Trip	1
56	GOAL	MancC		C	correct goal	3
59	GOAL	MancC		C	correct goal	3
60	GOAL	Tottenham		C	correct goal	3
62	OFFSIDE	Tottenham		C	assumed correct	1
65	GOAL	Tottenham		C	correct goal	3
67	OTHER	Vdvaart	Balotellu	C	little trip	1
72	OTHER	Milner		C	Handball assumed correct	1
75	OTHER	Lescott	Kaboul	NC	Lescott swings his elbow in the face of Kaboul and he had to make an effort to make this swing	1
75	RED	Lescott		NC	Facing your opponent and then swingin in the elbow should be a red card, nothing given	3
76	OTHER	Walker	Balotellu	C	Trip	1
79	OTHER	Balotelli	Essou Ekoto	C	Trip	1
79	YELLOW	Balotelli		C	came late	2
82	OTHER	Barry	Parker	C	Blocked him with the arm	1
82	YELLOW	Barry		NC	Protest loud and agressive, ref lets it go	2
83	OTHER	Balotelli	Parker	NC	Balotelli kicks Parker who had blocked a shot on the head	1
83	RED	Balotelli		NC	Should have been a red card for a deliberate stamp on the head of an opponent	3
85	OTHER	Silva	Kaboul	C	High foot	1
87	OFFSIDE	Manc		C	Keeper claims the ball and throws it out quickly to a free player, ref signals to put the flag down	1
90	OFFSIDE	Tottenham		C	assumed correct	1
94	PENALTY	King	Balotellu	C	clamps his legs around Balotelli	3
94	YELLOW	King		NC	A possible goal scoring chance, there was cover so a yellow card would have been enough but refs forgets is	2
94	GOAL	Manc		C	correct goal, but the man who scored should not have been on te field	3

Some talking points and I leave the not given red card against Balotelli was handled by the FA and rightly so. He hacked back with his heel on the head of Parker and this is not done.

City should have had another player sent off as Lescott went in against Kaboul in the second half and threw an elbow on the chin of the Tottenham player. As both players were facing each other Lescott knew that Kaboul was there and there was no need to move in with the arm like that and the ball had been played out of the danger zone by Lescott. Again Webb didn’t see it and neither did the FA. Maybe the fact that Lescott is English will have something to do with it?

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Howard Webb (2012-01-22)
Period 1	Called	Total	Correct %
OFFSIDE	1	1	100.00
OTHER	9	12	75.00
YELLOW	1	3	33.33
TOTAL	11	16	68.75
WEIGHTED	12	19	63.16
Period 2	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	5	5	100.00
OFFSIDE	3	3	100.00
OTHER	9	11	81.82
PENALTY	2	3	66.67
RED	0	2	0.00
YELLOW	2	4	50.00
TOTAL	21	28	75.00
WEIGHTED	37	54	68.52
Totals	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	5	5	100.00
OFFSIDE	4	4	100.00
OTHER	18	23	78.26
PENALTY	2	3	66.67
RED	0	2	0.00
YELLOW	3	7	42.86
TOTAL	32	44	72.73
WEIGHTED	49	73	67.12

The score from the ref is rather high but this mostly goes down to the fact that 5 goals were scored and that they were correct.

BIAS SUMMARY – Howard Webb (2012-01-22)
Period 1	Manchester City	%	Tottenham Hotspur	%	Total
Correct For	4	40.00	6	60.00	10
Correct For Weighted	4	40.00	6	60.00	10
Incorrect Against	4	66.67	2	33.33	6
Incorrect Against Weighted	6	66.67	3	33.33	9
Fouls Commited	8	57.14	6	42.86	14
Fouls Penalised	7	87.50	4	66.67	11
Period 2	Manchester City	%	Tottenham Hotspur	%	Total
Correct For	12	57.14	9	42.86	21
Correct For Weighted	21	56.76	16	43.24	37
Incorrect Against	2	28.57	5	71.43	7
Incorrect Against Weighted	5	33.33	10	66.67	15
Fouls Commited	6	42.86	8	57.14	14
Fouls Penalised	5	83.33	7	87.50	12
Totals	Manchester City	%	Tottenham Hotspur	%	Total
Correct For	16	51.61	15	48.39	31
Correct For Weighted	25	53.19	22	46.81	47
Incorrect Against	6	46.15	7	53.85	13
Incorrect Against Weighted	11	45.83	13	54.17	24
Fouls Commited	14	50.00	14	50.00	28
Fouls Penalised	12	85.71	11	78.57	23

If we look at the final wrong decisions it was as if the ref gave both teams one half the benefit of the doubt. In the first half the decisions went against City but in the second half they went against Tottenham. At the end of the day the wrong calls were even out.

But Tottenham will feel hard done by the fact that the player on who the penalty foul was done should have been in the dressing room by then. To make things worse the same player converted the penalty. And despite Harry saying he never complains about the refs and his decisions I think he did. But in this case I can’t blame him.