RefWatch – Howard Webb, Liverpool Vs Arsenal (02-09-2012 – 13:30)

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By DogFace

  • Referee: Howard Webb
  • Assistant 1: Mike Mullarkey
  • Assistant 2: Darren Cann
  • 4th Official: Phil Dowd

Good morning stat-fans and welcome to RefWatch… if you have any questions about the terminology of the article or unique observations then please leave a comment.

Asian Handicap (betting line) market:

Home Handicap Away
2.025 0 – 1/2 1.875

The Under/Over market:

Over Handicap Under
1.950 2 1/2 1.950

Let’s have a look at the Referee:

  • Full name: Howard Melton Webb
  • Date of birth: 14-Jul-1971 (Age 41)
  • Place of birth: Rotherham
  • Resides: South Yorkshire
  • EPL Referee Since: 2002/2003
  • EPL Games to date: 266

Howard Webb
Mike Mullarkey – Howard Webb – Darren Cann

It’s Howard Webb again… you remember him and his assistants from the world cup final – aren’t we lucky to have the A team out for this match as these guys are clearly regarded as the best of the best by the PGMOL – you can check out some of Howard Webb’s chequered history right here in this selection of referee reviews through the ages of Untold:

Season Score Match
2010/2011 66.130% Manchester United 2 – 1 Chelsea
2011/2012 78.720% Manchester United 8 – 2 Arsenal
2011/2012 69.230% Fulham 1 – 1 Blackburn Rovers
2011/2012 75.610% Manchester City 2 – 0 Everton
2011/2012 63.380% Arsenal 2 – 1 Sunderland
2011/2012 77.780% Tottenham Hotspur 3 – 1 Queens Park Rangers
2011/2012 80.390% Manchester City 5 – 1 Norwich City
2011/2012 70.830% Arsenal 1 – 0 Everton
2011/2012 68.000% Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 1 Chelsea
2011/2012 64.000% Newcastle United 3 – 0 Manchester United
2011/2012 76.470% Liverpool 0 – 0 Stoke City
2011/2012 72.730% Manchester City 3 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
2010/2011 45.000% Manchester United 1 – 0 Arsenal
Average Score: 69.867%

Let’s check out his stats!

FPB = Fouls Per Booking (vertical axis) BPM = Bookings Per Match(line width) AHS = Asian Handicap Swing i.e. the deviation from the expected result(vertical axis) PPG = Points Per Game(line width) Therefore a high thin line for FPB/BPM would indicate a lot of fouls and very little bookings – and a low thin line for AHS/PPG would indicate an underperformance against the betting line and very few points taken.

Howard Webb has had 27 games for Liverpool consisting of 12 wins, 6 draws and 9 losses.

Liverpool are currently in 8th in Howard Webb’s personal Points Per Game League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, with an average of 1.56 PPG.

In Howard Webb’s personal Handicap Swing League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, Liverpool come 10th with an average positive swing of 0.12.

Liverpool are currently in 5th in Howard Webb’s personal Booking’s Per Match League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, with an overall average of 1.30 BPM.

In Howard Webb’s personal Fouls Per Booking League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, Liverpool come 7th with an overall average of 9.17 FPB.

Liverpool appear to have less bookings per foul on average than their opposition for all seasons barring 2006/2007 under Howard Webb however their points tally and performance against the betting line (or handicap) appears to have gone steadily downhill since then.

The colour of the line represents the player type. The position of the line against the vertical axis will indicate the average time of the booking and the thickness of the line indicates the average number of bookings of players in that position. Therefore a high fat orange line would indicate that the referee often books the specified teams defence out of the challenge early, a low thin line or no line would indicate the opposite. The number of minutes bottoms out at 100 to indicate no bookings.

Above is a seasonal breakdown on how, when and where Liverpool took all their bookings under Howard Webb.

The colour of the line represents the player type. The position of the line against the vertical axis will indicate the average time of the booking and the thickness of the line indicates the average number of bookings of players in that position. Therefore a high fat orange line would indicate that the referee often books the specified teams defence out of the challenge early, a low thin line or no line would indicate the opposite. The number of minutes bottoms out at 100 to indicate no bookings.

Above is a seasonal breakdown on how, when and where Liverpool’s opposition took all their bookings under Howard Webb.

FPB = Fouls Per Booking (vertical axis) BPM = Bookings Per Match(line width) AHS = Asian Handicap Swing i.e. the deviation from the expected result(vertical axis) PPG = Points Per Game(line width) Therefore a high thin line for FPB/BPM would indicate a lot of fouls and very little bookings – and a low thin line for AHS/PPG would indicate an underperformance against the betting line and very few points taken.

Howard Webb has had 25 games for Arsenal consisting of 11 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses.

Arsenal are currently in 6th in Howard Webb’s personal Points Per Game League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, with an average of 1.64 PPG.

In Howard Webb’s personal Handicap Swing League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, Arsenal come 19th with an average negative swing of -0.30.

Arsenal are currently in 28th in Howard Webb’s personal Booking’s Per Match League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, with an overall average of 2.44 BPM.

In Howard Webb’s personal Fouls Per Booking League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the EPL, Arsenal come 29th with an overall average of 5.02 FPB.

As we can see, Arsenal have been booked fairly consistently more per foul than their opposition by Howard Webb since 2006/2007. Arsenal have performed pretty much on or below handicap under Howard Webb – there does not seem to be any season since 2006/2007 where Arsenal have over performed against the betting line.

The colour of the line represents the player type. The position of the line against the vertical axis will indicate the average time of the booking and the thickness of the line indicates the average number of bookings of players in that position. Therefore a high fat orange line would indicate that the referee often books the specified teams defence out of the challenge early, a low thin line or no line would indicate the opposite. The number of minutes bottoms out at 100 to indicate no bookings.

Above is a seasonal breakdown on how, when and where Arsenal took all their bookings under Howard Webb.

The colour of the line represents the player type. The position of the line against the vertical axis will indicate the average time of the booking and the thickness of the line indicates the average number of bookings of players in that position. Therefore a high fat orange line would indicate that the referee often books the specified teams defence out of the challenge early, a low thin line or no line would indicate the opposite. The number of minutes bottoms out at 100 to indicate no bookings.

Above is a seasonal breakdown on how, when and where Arsenal’s opposition took all their bookings under Howard Webb.

Lets look at the referee review data for Howard Webb’s games against Liverpool and Arsenal:

Well it seems that neither Liverpool or Arsenal have had any ‘luck’ under Howard Webb last season – although it does seem that Arsenal had a good deal more ‘bad luck’ than all the ‘bad luck’ Liverpool had to deal with… still – it all evens out at the end of the day I’m sure.

Let’s move on now to check out how Howard Webb performs against selected teams in the EPL:

The ine thickness represents the average Points Per Game and the position of the line against the vertical axis represents the average swing againd the handicap.

The Manchester clubs look to be the consistent performers under Howard Webb, Arsenal do OK in comparison to Chelsea and Liverpool but not that great in the grand scheme of things.

It’s hard to predict how Howard Webb is going to perform tomorrow, even without the complication of a ‘Super Sunday’ market exposure – let’s hope that we have a fair flowing game where we hardly notice his presence and the best team win… if not – well, there’s always the Referee Review to come to highlight every flaw, who knows – maybe some of that luck might just start to even out for one of the teams?


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24 Replies to “RefWatch – Howard Webb, Liverpool Vs Arsenal (02-09-2012 – 13:30)”

  1. I hope and pray that Haward Melton webb sleeps well tonight so he can be mentally sound tomorrow in taking decisions at anfield. I also hope Arsenal can take the threé(3) points back to the emirates, thanks.

  2. Im Loving all this shit, it truly is a remarkable database being compliled.

    One thing i will say about Webb

    he can be a very good ref but, every now and then he reads the wrong script, (wC Final) and totally screws up.

    Looking forward to today very much, hoping they press us hard and we knock it between them and behind them.

    Buzzing

  3. So far this season – too early to be sure? – but they may be a knock on from all of this, now, public information?
    Given that neither team are going to be perceived as a threat to the Man clubs, I guess we can expect a pretty even showing from the offials, with a draw as the obvious conclusion?

  5. i’m quite suprised after watching the match mr Webb has gone further down in my estimation.(ididn’t think much of him before the match)

    the Gerrad challenge(i think it was Gerrad was to busy swearing at the tv) on vermalion was disgraceful a few other things annoyed me but that challenge was disgusting and should have been a straight red unless i have misunderstood the rules which the men with the whistles “have” to follow.

    but happy with the win yahoo 3 points

  6. There were several poor dangerous challenges on us in the 2nd half not given as fouls or highlighted by the commentators

  7. Any one notice the enalty not given at the end of the utd game??
    Lets not hold our breath this season, expect Dean & the fanboys to deliver where it counts in the end again.
    Sky as usual chose to show blatant bias again with no replay or highlight

  9. @Jake – I don’t know about red, but I thought Gerrard should have definitely been booked for it.

    What got me mad was that they could blatantly foul Manone in front of goal so that he spills the ball without a whistle, but when it looked like Reina spilled the ball because he brought the ball down on the shoulder of one of our players, Webb blew for a foul. Double standards!

  10. Or what about Webb missing the foul by Sterling who dragged the Ox down by his shirt at the 64 minute mark? I think Chambo might have injured himself on that play.

  11. Actually, the Ox got injured about 6 minutes later under a somewhat normal challenge by Suarez.

  12. I’ve always stated Gerrard is the dirtiest player and the worst hypocrite, trade mark two footed lunges and crying foul when tackled.

  13. @Jake @dan – Just looked again at that assault by Gerrard. That was a nasty challenge. He got the ball but by doing so he had to lunge full speed driving his left knee into Vermaelen’s planted right ankle sending him flying 10 feet in the air off the pitch and onto that artificial surface. How Webb didn’t even produce a yellow card is beyond me.

    That’s two matches in a row Vermaelen has been upended in the last two matches by dirty tackles, both of which could have very easily have been ruled sending off offenses.

    Vermaelen is definitely one tough player. He was the man of the match for me.

  14. Webb seemed much better today than I ever remember giving him credit for however there were still big things wrong today.

    I think our best chance of silver wear is Champions League where the refs don’t have it in for us or can actually see.

    On the plus side, the only team in the fotball league t not have conceded a goal. Come on the invincibles!!!

  15. I agree with all that has been said about the refereeing in this game. The only thing positive to note about Webb was that Suarez did’nt get the penalty he was angling for.

  16. Yep, Goona Gal, at least Webb didn’t fall for Suarez’s theatrics and moaning for penalties.

  17. My wife and I were saying about Suarez and how no one believes him now, bit like the boy who cried wolf.

  18. @ Jonny Deigh – It’s as if he thinks scoring goals from open play at Anfield is a waste of time.

  19. @ stuart, champions league? are you forgetiing about the porto game and rvp getting sent of against barca?

  21. Hi Ataf,

    Yes I remember these, just saying in Europe we seem to get our fair share of the good and bad decisions rather than an unfair share in the EPL.

  22. we play 38 in the league and about ten in the champions league (assuming we get to the quaters), near enough 4 times as many so maybe thats why it seems that way but look at chelsea’s semi against barca and the reffering.

  24. ATAF,
    The Guus Hiddink semi final? That match was so fixed even the ball (an inanimate object) had £50 on Barca to progress.

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