Untold Ref Review: Manchester City 1 – 0 Manchester United

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

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 Andre Marriner –

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Andre Marriner (2012-04-30)
Period 1
Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment Weight
2 OTHER Tevez Park C obstruction 1
9 PENALTY Kompany C “appeal for handball but it was the chest, correct non decision” 3
10 OTHER Scholes Tevez NC Not given trip 1
11 OTHER Yaya Park NC Not given trip 1
11 OTHER Scholes C handball 1
12 OTHER Barry Evra C push 1
13 OTHER Zabaleta Rooney C Trip 1
19 OTHER Gibbs Silva NC push not given 1
20 OTHER Kompany Rooney C advantage given after a trip 1
20 YELLOW Kompany NC “He touched Rooney a bit but then Rooney dived in a very exagerated way as if Kompany had taken him out completely. A foul yes, not a card” 2
23 OTHER Nani Barry C jumped in the back 1
25 OTHER Nani Lescott C push 1
30 OTHER Kompany Rooney C “Rooney claims a foul but replay shows he started first with tugging the shirt of Kompany, correct to not give a foul from the ref” 1
30 OTHER Lescott Rooney C push 1
33 OTHER Tevez Carrick C little kick after Carrick took the ball away 1
33 YELLOW Tevez NC “Tevez shows clear dissent with throwing his arms in the direction of the ref, should be a yellow” 2
34 OTHER Tevez Jones NC “Tevez goes in wild after playing the ball to far, got man and ball is a foul, not given” 1
35 OTHER Jones Clichy C obstruction 1
43 OTHER Aguero Ferdinand NC Not given trip 1
46 GOAL MC C correct goal 3
Period 2
Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment Weight
53 OTHER Yaya Gibbs C obstruction 1
53 YELLOW Yaya C “smashes the ball in the ground in frustration, correct card” 2
56 OTHER Smalling Tevez C push 1
60 OTHER Nani Barry C push 1
61 OTHER Evra Zabaleta C jumped in the back 1
69 OTHER Jones Barry C Trip 1
69 YELLOW Jones C “studs on the ankle, correct card” 2
73 OTHER Giggs Zabaleta NC went under him and brought him down 1
73 OTHER Nani Clichy C assumed correct 1
74 OTHER Scholes Yaya C pull and high foot 1
76 OTHER De Jongh Welbeck C Trip 1
76 YELLOW De Jongh C “tackle from behind, correct card” 2
78 OTHER Carrick Barry C Trip 1
78 YELLOW Carrick C “came too late, correct card” 2
80 OTHER Aguero Jones C clipped his ankle 1
80 OTHER Rooney Kompany C high foot 1
84 OTHER Zabaleta Young C Trip 1
84 OTHER Lescott Jones NC not given trip 1
86 OTHER Jones Aguero C Trip 1
87 OTHER Yaya Young C Trip 1
88 OFFSIDE MC C assumed correct 1
90 OTHER Richards Giggs C Trip 1
90 OTHER NC 5 minutes extra time???? With no injury stops???? 1
92 OTHER Valencia Yaya C Trip 1
95 OTHER Smalling Hart C attacked the keeper in the air 1

With Uefa having a training session for the refs as a preparation for the Euro2012 in Poland and Ukraine in that weekend there was a shortage of possible refs. Webb was not available, Clattenburg was kept far away I think after the 1-6 in the first game.  Dean was also out I think. So we got Marinner to do this game.

With the whole world and of course with Untold looking over his shoulder the pressure will have been big. The last thing the ref and the PGMOL could afford was screwing things up.

The first minutes were good. An silly appeal for handball from Kompany was waved away. You sometimes wonder if  a player only standing 3 meters away doesn’t know the difference between the chicken breast of Kompany (an inside joke that will only be understood by Belgium people I guess) and the arm. The ball was controlled on the chest from Kompany so a good non decision from the ref.  Then followed a few poor decisions from the ref.

Followed by a good spell that ended badly. He gave an excellent advantage when Rooney was tripped as there was a real opening in the City defence. It came to nothing at the end but then he came back and gave Kompany a yellow card. Kompany slightly touched Rooney a bit on his left leg so it was a foul but the way Rooney threw his right leg high up in the air to indicate what a terrible foul this was looked like  “matennaaien” to me. (Translation of this Dutch word is literally “screwing your fellow professional”).

The way Tevez behaved a bit later was not that good either. He loudly and with gestures made his displeasure known against the ref.   I wouldn’t have accepted behaviour like that and so should no ref. Marinner let it go. A weak moment.

Not much wrong with the goal so no real complaints about that.

In the second half a rather toothless United could not get past the City defence and most attacks led to nothing.  Only two mistakes from the ref in the second half. Some good cards like the once against Yaya Toure when he smashed the ball to the ground in anger. Also no complaints about the other 3 cards shown in the second half.

The only real strange thing was the 5 minutes of extra time. I don’t know where he got them from but I really cannot remember the game having been stopped for a long time. So that seemed a bit outrageous to be honest.  But what do we know. Maybe the ref was enjoying himself that much that he didn’t wanted the game to come to an end?

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Andre Marriner (2012-04-30)
Period 1 Called Total Correct %
GOAL 1 1 100.00
OTHER 11 16 68.75
PENALTY 1 1 100.00
YELLOW 0 2 0.00
TOTAL 13 20 65.00
WEIGHTED 17 26 65.38
Period 2 Called Total Correct %
OFFSIDE 1 1 100.00
OTHER 17 20 85.00
YELLOW 4 4 100.00
TOTAL 22 25 88.00
WEIGHTED 26 29 89.66
Totals Called Total Correct %
GOAL 1 1 100.00
OFFSIDE 1 1 100.00
OTHER 28 36 77.78
PENALTY 1 1 100.00
YELLOW 4 6 66.67
TOTAL 35 45 77.78
WEIGHTED 43 55 78.18

A not really good first half but a major improvement in the second half when we look at the scores of the ref.

BIAS SUMMARY – Andre Marriner (2012-04-30)
Period 1 Manchester City % Manchester United % Total
Correct For 7 53.85 6 46.15 13
Correct For Weighted 11 64.71 6 35.29 17
Incorrect Against 3 42.86 4 57.14 7
Incorrect Against Weighted 4 44.44 5 55.56 9
Fouls Committed 9 56.25 7 43.75 16
Fouls Penalised 6 66.67 5 71.43 11
Period 2 Manchester City % Manchester United % Total
Correct For 13 59.09 9 40.91 22
Correct For Weighted 15 57.69 11 42.31 26
Incorrect Against 1 33.33 2 66.67 3
Incorrect Against Weighted 1 33.33 2 66.67 3
Fouls Committed 8 40.00 12 60.00 20
Fouls Penalised 7 87.50 11 91.67 18
Totals Manchester City % Manchester United % Total
Correct For 20 57.14 15 42.86 35
Correct For Weighted 26 60.47 17 39.53 43
Incorrect Against 4 40.00 6 60.00 10
Incorrect Against Weighted 5 41.67 7 58.33 12
Fouls Committed 17 47.22 19 52.78 36
Fouls Penalised 13 76.47 16 84.21 29

The bias index was in favour of the home team.  One could say almost the usual home/away bias to be seen.

And a final note about the football on display: I think this was rather a poor game to watch. Lots of tension because of the tight score line and the high stakes, but my god some poor football at times. Not really an advert for the PL to be honest.

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25 Replies to “Untold Ref Review: Manchester City 1 – 0 Manchester United”

  1.  

    What utter bollocks. You can do anything with stats/numbers but you cannot fool the man watching the game at the ground. Refs are desperate for utd to win, as this muppet was in this game. Chist its bad enough utd get the help of refs and SOME co operative opposing managers who roll over like girls for their love interest bacon face but when you do lose give it a bleeding rest. Oik approved!

  2. Blueman, your comments prove only that you have not followed the seasons analysis. The seasons reviews are available in the archives of this site, and the summary of over 140 games reviewed is being compiled. Hang around and learn something, rather than make a silly noise based on something you do not quite grasp yet!

  5. Perhaps your easily fooled. Stats are a major tool of all that deceive, such as politicians. the method of producing, manipulating and extrapolating information can produce any desired outcome. If this were an article demonstrating that my team (man city) won the prem despite being the victim of refs all season I’d still call it bollocks. Even where such a statement is true, it is not to mind proven by stats. Sam allayerdice manages his teams by stats so the players just run around a lot and complete a lot of pointless short passes, this improves their stats and gets them picked. The players that have a raging desire to hurt opposition whenever they get the ball will quite often have less impressive stats, but they are having a bigger impact on results. Though it’s easy to disprove the theory by using, you guessed it….stats.

  6. @ Blueman

    This is not stats

    It is data.

    now run us through the difference. you have found the audience for your intellect that you crave.

  8. @Blueman

    One swallow does not a summer make.

    As Laundryender says there are about 140 such reports on this site for this season. Take a look through them and then then let us know what you think.

  9. I’ve no desire to insult you personally or educate you, nor do you have the wit to get me to bite at your effort to insult. My view is, the above article is flawed. I’m happy to say its bollocks rather than write an essay on it for you. Live with it.

  10. Andy Kelly

    I do take the point that I have not read the 140 reports avaialbe, which was mentioned also by Laundryender. But I was at this game, I don’t feel able to comment on stats/data for games I wasn’t at. My view on this article is based on my view of being at the actual game. It’s just my view. But it does harden my general view to trust my eyes and experience of being there over information produced from others opinions (even refs) who have watched a re-run on screen.

  11. Blueman
    The review is based on a minute by minute assessment of the game. If you think it is ‘bollox’ why don’t you give an example, that’s why this format is used, so that you can question it. Can you pick anything in particular that you don’t agree with?

  13. Blueman, why don’t you take a look at this game http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/21694

    And you can look at how a few City fans agreed with it and with other reports in fact.

    As is said our reviewer (who is a ref and who certainly does not support MU) has seen the whole game and has based his judging on each and every incident on the field. Based on TV images. I have been to games and had to admit on occasions that my view from the stands was wrong (or that the ref was wrong)

  14. Walter…please don’t think I’m having a pop, just want to know the answer…what standard did the referee run games at?

  15. Rhyle,

    I take it you didn’t mean Marinner? 😉

    As all countries have different systems of organising their league it is difficult to compare. But it should be comparable to conference league level.

  16. @blueman. The only “bollocks” and “rot” above this comment is your tedious accusation that referees are desperate for United to win, and that opposing managers are keen for their own team to lose.

    Given that you’re an educator with such a high level of wit and intelligence then please enlighten all of us and provide us with your extensive evidence that concludes that referees are desperate for United to win.

    Or is it just the ramblings of a bitter anti-United twat?

  18. These have to be the most confusing set of comments ever.
    Is Blueman accusing this site of being pro-manu !
    And is Big C then defending our pro-manu status !!!

  19. Micko,

    maybe Blueman is one of those new Man City plastic fans who doesn’t know that we are an Arsenal blog. He saw something red, was told that red is the colour of United and well the rest is history 🙂

    Probably if he comes back he will tell us that he has been an City fan for 40 years or so 😉

  21. I was born in 1964 in moss side Manchester. So yes, I will tell you I have been supporting City for over fourty years. I haven’t called any of you twats, though you seem to be quite free with your personal insults and insinuations. You’ve all labelled me this and that, but it has no effect on me, I dont feel hurt or even slightly irrittated. Face to face and one to one you probably wouldn’t call me a twat for holding an opinion. Face to face you may all be decent guys. I won’t join in because I don’t need to validate myself by hurling personal abuse. I will behave on any forum as I would in person, and with football banter if say I think something is bollocks it is largely said with a smile. Perhaps you should only allow comments from people who wholly agree with everything they read here. If you were to knock on my door, I’m certain you’d all be less inclined to call me a twat.

  22. Blueman,
    maybe you could add a smile then if you want to say something with a smile it is simple just do 😉 or 🙂

    And we don’t mind critical voices as long as they come up with something specific. You could say: “I don’t agree with your decision in min 7 because I thought that player X handled the ball unintentional and therefore it is not a foul.”
    And then we can have a discussion about that incident. But just saying “this is bollocks” is something we don’t really like. And then some might get a bit too defensive (or aggressive).

    By the way let me congratulate you with the title as you clearly are a real City supporter. If only you would have done it on your own merit and strength it would be a perfect title. Now with all the money from the sheik it does look like a bought title. But I don’t think you will mind that part after all those years.

  23. Ah Walter…sure you can find a bigger stick to poke him with than that old one!

    All titles are bought…and always have been…it’s just that some have been bought with bigger chequebooks than others…

  24. As long as they are bought with money that the club generated itself I have no problem with it. I admit I have a problem with the way Chelsea and now City have been doing their business in the last 10 years or so.
    In fact I have lesser problems with the way Utd used their financial power in the last 20 years. It was their right to use the money they made themselves to become/stay at the top. I don’t like them of course but at least it it was their own money.
    And I don’t like this because I have seen how it can go horribly wrong you know. My local team in my own country was taken over by some Armenian businessman around the time Chelsea was taken over I think. He brought us 3 promotions in a row and then turned out to be doing some illegal things. He was put in jail, the club relied on his money and suddenly there was no money left. My club survived…barely. We had to face a drop back but we paid all what was owed but seen some rotten years and just managed to keep ourselves in the league of national wide football. Only now we managed to get back up this season. A title won on our own merit and own money. And the club directors have vowed that they will never allow such a situation again (depending on strange money).

    I’ve witnessed the good side of such a sugar daddy but it all ended in tears at the end. And it nearly was the end of a club that existed 100 years.

    So from my own local and personal experience I know the danger that lies behind the success. And it is a danger that shouldn’t be allowed because it can bring a lot of pain and drama to the everyday life of ordinary supporters.

  25. @Blueman – the guy who called you a twat isn’t a regular here, rather a visiting Man-U fan… so I imagine that in the “down t’ pub” scenario he probably would abuse you to your face.

    Fair dues for staying polite – well apart from declaring all our hard work as ‘utter bollocks’ in the first line of your introductory statement – that was a bit rude.

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