Arsenal v Crystal Palace 2 February 2014 – The Match Officials

Arsenal v Crystal Palace 02 February 2014 – The Match Officials

After correctly calling the situation that emerged at Southampton v Arsenal, can we get it right once again?   Find out…

Andrew Crawshaw

• Referee – Jonathan Moss
• Assistants – P Kirkup, M Perry
• Fourth Official – R East

 

We last saw Mr Moss on January 1st for the home game against Cardiff.  Mr Kirkup was on duty in the reverse of this fixture (under Chris Foy), Mr Perry has appeared under Mr Mason in the 1-1 draw we had at West Brom, so both Assistants have appeared in games with questionable anti-Arsenal decisions this year, indeed it is the first time this season that either assistant has been paired with Mr Moss.

Mr Moss is from the West Riding, so a Yorkshireman (good company there, so was my father) and on 4 January 2011 had his first Premier League game when he took charge of Blackpool v Birmingham City (1-2).  He formally joined the Elite group in the 2011/12 season.  When not refereeing he is a headmaster of a primary school in Halifax.

How has he done in his Arsenal games over the past couple of seasons?

I gave a pretty thorough review in my preview for the Cardiff game – Arsenal v Cardiff: 1/1/14 – the Match Officials. Are we making an impression? so I’m not going to go through it all again a month later.  In summary he was one of the better referees in his four previous visits, and produced the stand-out individual refereeing of all of our games last year gaining an overall 92% in our 0-2 away win at Swansea on 16 March.

So did he continue that standard in the Cardiff game this year?  Whilst I don’t think he would have got 92%, I can’t recall any major errors and think that he was quite adequate.

Walter’s review of the game didn’t mention him once, so he didn’t do anything terrible.  The game was frustrating as we took for ever to break them down and Cardiff were timewasting from the start but, in the end, goals from Nick and Theo and a good block by Szcz saw us win by 2-0.  Super, super Nick… never write a player off before he really is gone.

Jayramfootball made a very valid point in his comment on the preview article – why would the PGMOL waste one of their more experienced anti-arsenal referees on a home game v Cardiff, and I think the same logic can be applied to a home game v Palace as well.

It is a game that the PGMOL don’t expect to be able to affect materially and so have sent a less obviously biased referee to oversee.  I am a little worried about the linesmen – maybe I’m just getting too paranoid (I know I am but it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get us)- and call on all supporters to be very aware of any possible phantom offsides etc. that may occur.

For Palace, the second time this year with Mr Moss, he was in charge at United on 14 September (2-0).  The match hinged on a contentious decision in Minute 41 by Mr Moss to send off Dikgacoi and award a penalty for a perceived foul from behind on Ashley Young.  RVP scored from the spot.  In Minute 81 Rooney scored the second directly from a free kick.  I doubt that Palace supporters will be too pleased to see Mr Moss again.

I haven’t found a video with sufficient quality that covers the time leading up to the penalty decision to come to a full assessment of the decisions. Ashley Young wasn’t shot which is how he tumbled to the ground, there might have been some contact and there was another Palace defender in the penalty area coming in from the side so the additional burden of a red card was a double blow.

Needless to say the United ‘faithful’ were baying for blood and got the result they wanted.  I am also certain that if that incident was in a United v Arsenal game the result would have been exactly the same, unless of course, the attackers and defenders were reversed when no foul would have occurred.

In conclusion, a game where I don’t think we have anything very much to fear the referee.  As always we need to be vigilant and not provide any excuses for a cheap red card so no Flamini tackles please.  Rosicky and Sagna are, I think, both on three cards so I’d rather not see either of them pick up a fourth and risk a fifth with a suspension for the Oilers.

COYG

 

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