Match Review: Chris Foy – Arsenal Vs Reading (4 – 1) [30/03/2013]

8 Replies to “Match Review: Chris Foy – Arsenal Vs Reading (4 – 1) [30/03/2013]”

1. At the game, being opposite the assistant referee in the Chamberlain penalty incident, I got the distinct impression that he clearly signalled a penalty decision to Foy immediately that the trip happened.

2. Whilst we have done OK for points under Foy this year, three wins and a draw, the quality of his refereeing really hasn’t been good. At the time of the Giroud incident it looked the clearest penalty/sending off imaginable. I still can’t believe that Foy didn’t even see it as a foul. If his judgement is that poor what on earth is he doing in charge of games at the highest level – he shouldn’t even be allowed to do games at “grass roots” level.
   I know that,in the end, we won comfortably and it really didn’t matter but that’s not the point and it could have.

3. Even Graham Poll in his post in the Mail called it the easiest of penalties and speculates that missing it may be the reason for him not having a game this week.

4. I looked at a still video of the Gervinho’s position at the first goal. He was actually a few inches behind the last defender when Cazorla kicked the ball. No offside, good call.

5. Yes Percy he did signal the foul. But when a foul is made on the line the assistant also has to help the ref (assist 😉 ) to make the correct decision. Penalty or free kick? And this is something he can do when he is absolutely certain by making one or two steps in the direction of the goal line indicating that the foul was inside. Or stepping one or two steps away from the goal line indicating it was outside the penalty area.

   The assistant flagged but then stood still. So I think he wasn’t certain of it being inside or outside the penalty area and let the ref make the call. Of course if you are not sure as an assistant you have to let the ref make the decision. That is why the ref gets paid more than an assistant 🙂

6. Walter, please allow me to go off topic. Last night Spurs played in the Europa League; Adebayor’s goal was a goalmouth scramble where he raised his foot to head height in order to score. The defender was going to head the ball clear, but pulled out on seeing Ade’s boot. It was not clear who would have got there first.

   Is it a foul? Is it a card? What colour?

7. The Taylor foul was the clearest of penalties and Foy was well placed to see it. The only possible argument against could be that Taylor was trying to get the ball, but that applies in most cases when a keeper brings down a forward and is no reason to duck the decision.

   But could it have been that he knew awarding a penalty would have meant a red card for Taylor?

   But just imagine if it had been the other way round and it was Reading who were denied at that stage of the game. Especially if they had lost by a smaller margin. The MOTD crowd and the papers would have been raging on about the injustice of it all and how refs always favour the bigger club.

   The seriousness given to refereeing errors is as much about the result of the game and the teams involved as the mistake itself.

   And the Ox penalty was clear cut both at the time and under TV scrutiny. There was a bit of a push on him first when outside of the area but he stayed on his feet and was brought down when inside.

8. Cape Gooner, I will try to see the images if I can find them. I didn’t see the game