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:
Although this is a site built for Arsenal supporters we welcome comments from fans of other teams, although we tend not to publish comments which are simply abusive or which are completely off topic.
Today’s referee is Michael Oliver –
| MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Michael Oliver (2012-03-26) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | |||||||
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | Weight | |
| 3 | OTHER | Dempsey | Carrick | C | pull | 1 | |
| 3 | OTHER | Rafael | Frei | C | push | 1 | |
| 4 | OTHER | Evra | Duff | C | push | 1 | |
| 7 | OTHER | Evans | Pogrebniak | NC | Held him down with his hands so he couldn’t jump for a header | 1 | |
| 11 | OTHER | Evans | Pogrebniak | NC | Jumped in the back, not given | 1 | |
| 22 | OTHER | Carric | Dempsey | C | Trip | 1 | |
| 25 | OTHER | Valencia | Frei | C | Push | 1 | |
| 27 | OTHER | Young | Duff | NC | pulled the defender back, not given | 1 | |
| 27 | OTHER | Dembele | Young | NC | Was an obstruction but only because of the not given foul on Duff | 1 | |
| 30 | OTHER | Carrick | Pogrebniak | C | Trip | 1 | |
| 34 | OTHER | Evans | Pogrebniak | C | Jumped in the back | 1 | |
| 34 | OTHER | Giggs | Dembele | C | Sliding tackle on the man | 1 | |
| 34 | YELLOW | Giggs | C | Ref had no option, correct card | 2 | ||
| 36 | OTHER | Rafael | Frei | NC | Push not given | 1 | |
| 39 | OTHER | Duff | Giggs | NC | Trip not given | 1 | |
| 41 | PENALTY | Kelly | C | Appeal for handball but was moving his arm away from the ball, correct non call | 3 | ||
| 42 | GOAL | MU | C | Correct goal | 3 | ||
| 44 | OTHER | Young | Duff | C | push in the back | 1 | |
| 46 | OFFSIDE | MU | C | correct decision | 1 | ||
| Period 2 | |||||||
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | Weight | |
| 50 | OTHER | Kelly | Young | C | Trip | 1 | |
| 57 | OTHER | Ferdinand | Pogrebniak | C | Trip | 1 | |
| 61 | OTHER | Giggs | Diarra | C | Trip | 1 | |
| 67 | OTHER | Valencia | Dembele | C | push | 1 | |
| 68 | OTHER | Dembele | Young | C | pull | 1 | |
| 72 | OTHER | Valencia | Riise | C | came in a bit late | 1 | |
| 73 | OTHER | Evra | Duff | NC | High foot not given | 1 | |
| 73 | OTHER | Evans | Pogrebniak | NC | Got man and ball, is a foul | 1 | |
| 74 | OTHER | Evans | Ruiz | C | sliding tackle | 1 | |
| 74 | YELLOW | Evans | NC | Was late, only got the man, was almost the same as Giggs. Should also have been a yellow | 2 | ||
| 82 | OTHER | Hughes | Evra | NC | Wild tackle missed the player, advantage given but immediatly lost, should have gone back | 1 | |
| 82 | OTHER | Evra | Ruiz | C | clipped his ankle | 1 | |
| 84 | OTHER | Scholes | Dempsey | C | Stamp on his leg with his studs | 1 | |
| 84 | YELLOW | Scholes | NC | Should have been a yellow card at least, that was a nasty kick | 2 | ||
| 86 | OFFSIDE | MU | C | correct | 1 | ||
| 89 | PENALTY | Carrick | Murphy | NC | Carrick kicks the left foot of Murphy, ref gives nothing. Was a penalty | 3 | |
| 89 | YELLOW | Carrick | NC | Was a promising attack, could have had a clear shot on goal | 2 | ||
| 89 | OTHER | Hughes | Young | NC | looking for a foul and went down when Hughes came too close | 1 | |
| 91 | OTHER | Javier | Hughes | C | push in the back | 1 | |
| 92 | OTHER | Rafael | Duff | C | assumed correct | 1 | |
| 93 | OTHER | Ruiz | Young | C | No replay but I wonder if it was another nice dive, but I will give the ref the benefit of the doubt | 1 | |
This was a typical Old Trafford performance from the ref. In case of doubt, give the decision the Utd way. And so he did this with a great consistency during the game.
He made a great start punishing a few small fouls and this lead to a long period with almost no fouls. Well he didn’t give a few ones against United in that period but Fulham had understood his first calls and didn’t go in the challenges. A great example on how a ref should start a game but then he forgot to carry on like he started.
MU appealed for a penalty for a handball but the Fulham defender had his arm behind his body when the cross came in and the ball rolled a bit over his body and then hit his upper arm. Correct call not to give a penalty.
This cannot be said of the decision late on in the game when Carrick kicked the left foot of Murphy. It was a trip, a foul and should have been a penalty. But this was MU, this was Old Trafford. This is just how it goes most of the time.
| COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Michael Oliver (2012-03-26) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Called | Total | Correct % | ||||
| GOAL | 1 | 1 | 100.00 | ||||
| OFFSIDE | 1 | 1 | 100.00 | ||||
| OTHER | 9 | 15 | 60.00 | ||||
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100.00 | ||||
| YELLOW | 1 | 1 | 100.00 | ||||
| TOTAL | 13 | 19 | 68.42 | ||||
| WEIGHTED | 18 | 24 | 75.00 | ||||
| Period 2 | Called | Total | Correct % | ||||
| OFFSIDE | 1 | 1 | 100.00 | ||||
| OTHER | 12 | 16 | 75.00 | ||||
| PENALTY | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | ||||
| YELLOW | 0 | 3 | 0.00 | ||||
| TOTAL | 13 | 21 | 61.90 | ||||
| WEIGHTED | 13 | 26 | 50.00 | ||||
| Totals | Called | Total | Correct % | ||||
| GOAL | 1 | 1 | 100.00 | ||||
| OFFSIDE | 2 | 2 | 100.00 | ||||
| OTHER | 21 | 31 | 67.74 | ||||
| PENALTY | 1 | 2 | 50.00 | ||||
| YELLOW | 1 | 4 | 25.00 | ||||
| TOTAL | 26 | 40 | 65.00 | ||||
| WEIGHTED | 31 | 50 | 62.00 | ||||
The longer the game went on the poorer the decisions from the ref became. The not given penalty the ultimate high of low in this game. A total score that is far below what we can expect in the EPL
| BIAS SUMMARY – Michael Oliver (2012-03-26) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Manchester United | % | Fulham | % | Total |
| Correct For | 2 | 15.38 | 11 | 84.62 | 13 |
| Correct For Weighted | 4 | 22.22 | 14 | 77.78 | 18 |
| Incorrect Against | 1 | 16.67 | 5 | 83.33 | 6 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 1 | 16.67 | 5 | 83.33 | 6 |
| Fouls Commited | 13 | 81.25 | 3 | 18.75 | 16 |
| Fouls Penalised | 9 | 69.23 | 1 | 33.33 | 10 |
| Period 2 | Manchester United | % | Fulham | % | Total |
| Correct For | 3 | 23.08 | 10 | 76.92 | 13 |
| Correct For Weighted | 3 | 23.08 | 10 | 76.92 | 13 |
| Incorrect Against | 1 | 12.50 | 7 | 87.50 | 8 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 1 | 7.69 | 12 | 92.31 | 13 |
| Fouls Commited | 13 | 76.47 | 4 | 23.53 | 17 |
| Fouls Penalised | 10 | 76.92 | 3 | 75.00 | 13 |
| Totals | Manchester United | % | Fulham | % | Total |
| Correct For | 5 | 19.23 | 21 | 80.77 | 26 |
| Correct For Weighted | 7 | 22.58 | 24 | 77.42 | 31 |
| Incorrect Against | 2 | 14.29 | 12 | 85.71 | 14 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 2 | 10.53 | 17 | 89.47 | 19 |
| Fouls Commited | 26 | 78.79 | 7 | 21.21 | 33 |
| Fouls Penalised | 19 | 73.08 | 4 | 57.14 | 23 |
The bias score is… well what we can expect of a game at Old Trafford. In case of doubt give United the decision and you cannot be wrong seems to be what the refs are thinking.
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well done man!!! brilliant stats
Oh, for goodness sake! 😉
So, on the Attwood-Broekx Adjusted Scale,
what is the REAL score?
It all evens out in the end.
Man U got away with murder vs Fulham.
Fulham got away with murder vs Arsenal.
Fair enough?
All season I was trying to figure out why some matches were more obviously influenced than others. What factors potentially play into the match-bending matrix? Here’s a few I’ve thought of (most of which have been mentioned on Untold before):
*league position in relation to other teams
*manager/ref relationship
*club/ref relationship
*previous history of a fixture (are any derbies consistently tilted?)
*repayment for past hatchet jobs
*immediate factors (the ref makes a publicized blunder one week so has to call straight for a while, or Fergy rants about a ref, who then has to favour Man U, Redknapp being touted for the England job, etc.)
*TV times and gambling markets
*nearness of a match to a transfer window or a cup match
*contrasting styles of play (“British” vs “foreign”)
*upcoming vacancies for senior refs
*certain players (and their agents) being helped towards transfers or lucrative contracts
What else could there be?
@El ringo great thinking on it all evens out theory..Wigan gets murdered against chelsea and it evens out for them against Arsenal but one thing i dont get is how things even out for Arsenal…the only way i could think of is that we get 20 incorrect decisions against us in one match and then get 20 against us in the next one..there it evens out alright
That is why the greatest manager in epl istory will not be able to overtake Liverpool’s 5 euro triumphs.One word sums it all up in word.Refs.
The pattern continues. Will it next season, now this sort of thing is being more widely exposed and there is a new bigger kid on the block? These refs are embarrassing themselves with utd, are they shameless enough to keep it up if fergies power fades?
Off topic, but congratulations to Brendan Rodgers, he has damaged our team, but swansea played some great stuff in the right way. Now, Liverpool have called and it seems he has answered. I will not pretend to wish Liverpool well as that could end up at our expense but just reward for a man who had his team play football as it should be played, I hope he continues to do so, the less fergie gimps and hoof merchants in the epl, the better.
Man U have had about 20 points a season they shouldn’t have had every year in the EPL from refs. Why should next season be any different?
This is why I cannot believe this nonsense about Ferguson being this amazing management phenomenon. The richest club in the world for virtually every year since he took over and a 20 point start = phenomenal under achiever in my book.
If Fergie does retire next season, and Pep is lured back by the ‘fresh challenge'(some challenge? Perhaps Swansea should test how much of a challenge he wants??) – I digress, they may have a ‘foreign’ manager, but one well versed in the art of having favourable referees … Think on that!?!
So blinding obvious! Great job!!
A great manager?
Someone who takes a midtable team in decline and then creates a dynasty, consistently in the top four, winning trophies, bringing the best talent in the world to the club and putting the club back into the global eye.
Or a manager with all the wealth available to buy any player that he wants. Wins a few trophies then buggers off to another club with lots to spend and then buggers off again.
Or a manager with the best talent of a generation already in the team. In a league where the third placed team is closer to relegation than to second and then he quits because he is burnt out by winning everything.
When you think about it what has haappened to Arsenal in the Wenger years with the backing of the board and in competition with untold riches from all sides, it’s pretty much of a miracle to be where the club is.
Of course trophies would be nice but this is pretty darned good.
@Idolx – Good point mate!!!