Untold Ref Review: Liverpool 4 – 1 Chelsea – the ref done good

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:

• Untold Ref Reviews …
• Untold Corruption …

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 Kevin Friend –

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Kevin Friend (2012-05-08)
Period 1
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
1	OTHER	Agger	Ramirez	C		1
2	OTHER	Henderson	Bertrand	C		1
2	OTHER	Skrytel	Essien	C		1
2	OTHER	Carroll	Ferriera	C		1
3	OTHER	Torres	Carragher	C		1
3	OTHER	Suarez	Ivanovich	C		1
6	OTHER	Ferriera	Carroll	C	Could have been a yellow for the trip	4
10	OFFSIDE	Maxi		C		1
13	OTHER	Carragher		C	Handball	1
14	OTHER	Ferriera	Suarez	C	Going with the Ref	4
14	YELLOW	Ferriera		C	Easy one.	2
18	GOAL	Essien O/G		C		3
20	OTHER	Terry	Carroll	C		1
20	YELLOW	Terry		C	easy one, he pulled him back after being nutmegged	2
21	OTHER	Ivanovich	Carroll	C		1
24	GOAL	Henderson		C	JT Slips again a la RVP at the Bridge	3
26	OTHER	Essien	Suarez	C		1
28	GOAL	Agger		C		3
31	OTHER	Sturridge	Agger	N/C	Jumped into the man in the air, nothing given	1
31	OTHER	Terry	Carroll	C		1
32	OTHER	Suarez	Sturridge	C		1
33	OFFSIDE	Suarez		C		1
34	OTHER	Ramirez	Carragher	C		1
43	OTHER	Essien	Carroll	C		1
43	YELLOW	Essien		N/C		2
43	RED	Essien		N/C	Decisions don’t get easier than this,or worse than the decision to give a yellow. Essien literally jumped onto Carrolls Calf with all his studs showing and both feet well off the air. It was brutish thuggery, and to make matters worse the Ref was in full	3
44	OTHER	Maxi	Ferriera	C		1
45	PENALTY	Ivanovich	Carroll	C	Ivanovich holds him off, placing his arm across his chest, Carrollis fouled, and falls to the ground covering his face in a farcical manner, it is the Sergio Busquets syndrome I think.	3
45	YELLOW	Ivanovich		C	Ref was entitled to caution	2
Period 2
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
45	OTHER	Shelvey	Ramirez	C		1
48	OTHER	Malouda	Downing	C		1
48	OTHER	Shelvey	Ramirez	C		1
50	GOAL	Ramirez		C		3
51	OTHER	Carragher	Torres	N/C	Push in back missed	1
56	OTHER	Suarez	Ferriera	C		1
57	OTHER	Chelsea	Johnson	C		1
58	OTHER	Torres	Downing	N/C	Ref got this all wrong, Torres was no where near the ball	1
60	GOAL	Shelvey		C	Nice strike	3
63	OTHER	Carroll		C	High Feet	1
64	OTHER	Henderson	Ramirez	C		1
64	YELLOW	Henderson		C	A bit harsh, but again Ref was entitled to caution	2
70	OTHER	Agger	Ramirez	C		1
70	YELLOW	Agger		C	Scissor challenge good decision ref	2
74	OFFSIDE	Suarez		C		1
75	OTHER	Shelvey	Torres	C		1
77	OTHER	Suarez	Ivanovich	C		1
77	RED	Suarez		N/C	Suarez in attempting to pull Ivanovich back did a fore arm smash into his face, it may have been accidental, but that does not matter, the attempted pull was deliberate, and the smash into the face of Ivanovich was the result. The Refwas unsighted and it	3
79	OTHER	Ramirez	Liverpool	N/C	He made good contact with the ball, but was penalised	1
81	OTHER	Skrytel	Torres	C		1
87	OTHER	Suarez	Ivanovich	C		1

 

This was the game following the FA cup final, and prior to the CL Final. Liverpool were out for revenge and got it. Chelsea rested those to star in Munich; this meant that JT and Ivanovich played. Oh how pleased Chelsea must have been that they were not available for Munich, for Andy Carroll gave them both a torrid time.  That is Torrid time not Torres time. Torres was once again absent from duty. So too was JT, a game he will want to forget. Ivanovich gave away a silly penalty from a position where he was the right side of Carroll. RDM on the sidelines must have been thinking thank god for the suspensions.

Kevin Friend was the Ref and he did OK. But oh how I wish he had sent of Essien for a crude and dangerous challenge on Andy Carroll. He had a good view as Essien jumped onto Carrolls Calf with all of his studs showing. It was one of those challenges Essien makes every now and then, and you think, how did he get away with that.  The Suarez incident was understandable; Friend would not have seen the forearm smash into Ivanovichs face, but that too was crude and Suarez would have had no complaints had he walked.

Apart from that it was an outstanding performance, keeping what was a tempestuous affair under good control with good use of cards and communication with players.

On second thoughts of course Suarez would have complained. silly me.

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Kevin Friend (2012-05-08)
Period 1	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	3	3	100.00
OFFSIDE	2	2	100.00
OTHER	17	18	94.44
PENALTY	1	1	100.00
RED	0	1	0.00
YELLOW	3	4	75.00
TOTAL	26	29	89.66
WEIGHTED	37	43	86.05
Period 2	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	2	2	100.00
OFFSIDE	1	1	100.00
OTHER	12	15	80.00
RED	0	1	0.00
YELLOW	2	2	100.00
TOTAL	17	21	80.95
WEIGHTED	23	29	79.31
Totals	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	5	5	100.00
OFFSIDE	3	3	100.00
OTHER	29	33	87.88
PENALTY	1	1	100.00
RED	0	2	0.00
YELLOW	5	6	83.33
TOTAL	43	50	86.00
WEIGHTED	60	72	83.33

A very nice score all in all for the ref in this game.

BIAS SUMMARY – Kevin Friend (2012-05-08)
Period 1	Liverpool	%	Chelsea	%	Total
Correct For	16	57.14	12	42.86	28
Correct For Weighted	27	62.79	16	37.21	43
Incorrect Against	3	100.00	0	0.00	3
Incorrect Against Weighted	6	100.00	0	0.00	6
Fouls Commited	7	43.75	9	56.25	16
Fouls Penalised	7	100.00	8	88.89	15
Period 2	Liverpool	%	Chelsea	%	Total
Correct For	3	17.65	14	82.35	17
Correct For Weighted	5	21.74	18	78.26	23
Incorrect Against	1	25.00	3	75.00	4
Incorrect Against Weighted	1	16.67	5	83.33	6
Fouls Commited	11	78.57	3	21.43	14
Fouls Penalised	10	90.91	3	100.00	13
Totals	Liverpool	%	Chelsea	%	Total
Correct For	19	42.22	26	57.78	45
Correct For Weighted	32	48.48	34	51.52	66
Incorrect Against	4	57.14	3	42.86	7
Incorrect Against Weighted	7	58.33	5	41.67	12
Fouls Commited	18	60.00	12	40.00	30
Fouls Penalised	17	94.44	11	91.67	28

Not that many wrong calls in this game and rather even spread amongst both teams.