Dwarfist.
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Spec savers even tweeted afterwards now that is bad.
Posted in the ref thread as well, justification given for the red/not red
Can’t even watch ref watch this morning…that’ll be a shit lfc fest.
Say what ya want about Jon Christmas Pudding under his jumper Moss…
but if he had been officiating yesterday… Kean would have got a red…
Then Jon Moss could have spent the festivities filling his scrap book with newspaper cuttings of him being the first referee in history to send off the golden boy that is England Captain…
What is it with Mike Riley and the arrogant shower of shits he calls referees these days…
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Seen the proper highlights now and I’m stunned by that refereeing performance. I’m not one for conspiracy theories so I can only attribute that to sheer incompetence on his part and the farcical “clear and obvious error” mitigation they’ve included in the use of VAR to get them out of their own fuck ups.
How the VAR doesn’t say to the ref, you might want to have a look at that I’ll never know. But, referring the referee to review the screen has basically become “you’ve got that wrong but we’ll not overrule you and make you look bad, you get to go and pretend looking at the monitor has changed your mind”. It’s pathetic.
As for Peter Walton’s mental gymnastics to come up with this justification in order to avoid saying his mate got it wrong is just staggering.
A 16 year old doing GCSE physics be able to tell you that force = mass x acceleration and therefore it doesn’t matter where his leg is, the force is the same either way. And how can it be yellow and red worthy but he doesn’t get referred to review it? Oh yeah, the old ambiguous get out of jail free card that is “clear and obvious error”.
“Well I would of sent him off Andy but you see, you jumped and that means you reduced the risk of getting injured so I can’t send him off. It’s actually your fault for trying to get out the way.” That’s the level of refereeing we’re at now.
But then, to openly admit players are treated differently based on their past record is tantamount to scandalous. It means the rules are applied differently to different players based on history rather than the incident itself. What he’s basically saying is that tackle is probably a red for Robertson if he does it in his next game as he’s recently been red carded for a physical tackle but isn’t for Kane because he’s not been sent off in ten years. Is that seriously how they apply the laws.
Bunch of pricks the lot of them.
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As time goes on more and more people who ridiculed the ‘conspiracy theorists’ are starting to change their tune. A few on here have.
Quite frankly if you still think we are treated fairly by these cheats then there’s no hope.
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I think the second para is far more concerning - speaks to a clear bias for or against certain players.
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Has always been the case though. Players have reputations and refs decision making will be jnfluenced by that. Nothing new there and an unavoidable part of the game unless you manage to find a new ref each game who has never even heard of the teams or players involved there will be some bias based on the reputation of players/teams (same reason for romantic refereeing of cup games or Burnley - seen as honest English footy and not thuggery)
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This is absolute steaming bullshit. We should go to war against the PGMOL.
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As someone who’s always been sceptical rather than ridiculing or believing it, I’m having a hard time arguing against the pattern that’s been obvious over the last couple of seasons. Somehow City seem to get all the dodgy decisions going their way, and we end up on the losing end of some really absurd decisions…
Agreed but actively studying players’ performances and looking at their stats is a whole different thing no? We all form subconscious biases but it’s a whole different matter to go looking for them.
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Hang on, so what Peter Walton is saying, is that Robertson would’ve had to suffer a potential career ending injury, for Kane to get a red card. He’s also admitted that referees make their minds up before a game, which players are going to get a red card if they are guilty of serious foul play and which players won’t ie. Harry Kane.
That is the most disgraceful statement I’ve heard on the subject yet. Utter bullshit from Walton.
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Looking at a player’s card record isn’t, on the face of it, a bad thing. I’d imagine the intent is to spot troublemakers and be able to keep them in check early doors. If done well it would be a good tool for helping refs manage a game. The problem isn’t the practice of knowing the teams you’re reffing.
The problem is all the refs lack the balls to go against the grain of those stats particularly against the home team. The worst refs we’ve had have been the ones who’ve reffed away games. In all honesty I’d say the Utd ref was the worst we’d had this season after the Ronaldo and Fred incidents lead to Pogba. The man just refused to do something that would upset the utd fans more than having to watch utd. The Spurs crowd were loud and vocal yesterday and teirney didn’t have the balls to red card their golden wantaway. Vice versa the best ref performances have been the home ones.
The only ref who isn’t cowed by a crowd is Mike Dean and thats not because he’s good; it’s because he’s a chaotic mess who loves drama.
In all honesty, if the were an overhaul of the refs I think the current practices would work a lot better. The problem is the people not the process. English refs are currently the worst on the continent and have been on a downward slope since 2005. Until PGMOl introduces a sense of accountability to referees they will continue to be inconsistent cowardly messes that blow with the winds rather than do their job safe in the knowledge that no matter how bad they are they face no repercussions.
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Can I point out that every fan forum is full of posts praising the refs as they’re all just against us.
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I fully accept there will be a degree of unconscious or sub-conscious bias that is almost unavoidable. But to actually admit that this is consciously how they apply the laws is totally unacceptable.
In our 20 domestic games this season, we’ve had 27 yellow cards plus our one red card. Tierney has dished out 11 of those yellows and the red. He’s reffed us a total three times. No wonder Klopp hates him.
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It’s staggering, but I’ve been saying this for ages. It’s no good Klopp losing his shit at referees - we have to look at how we manage this situations.
We know what they are like. We know they referee context. We know they are looking for any excuse to bottle the decision. Fucks sake, last season we had the (normally sound) Michael Oliver basically admit that he didn’t send off Pickford because our players didn’t ask him to.
In this situation, we should do what every single other team do - roll around on the floor, thumping the grass in pain, while the other players surround the ref and the transgressors shouting, pushing and swearing. Make it absolutely clear that a bad foul as happened and we want a red. And whether the fouled lad is hurt or not, you absolutely don’t fucking stand up again until that prick in the Stockley Park has been forced to make his call.
We’ve tried being nice and playing the game in the right spirit. If the refs are going to punish us for that, then it needs to stop. To my mind we’ve lost four points this year because our lads have tried to get on with the game despite being on the end of a leg breaker. The only time we’ve we’ve actually got the decision is when our players have literally been stretchered off.
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That is an absurd stat.
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We’re our own worst enemy. Kane said yesterday that Robbo told him he shouldn’t have been sent off, or words to that effect. Whether he did or not is anybody’s guess given a proven liar made the claim. But let’s say it’s true. Earlier this season Harvey Elliott went on social media to defend the bloke who just put him out for 3-4 months with a reckless challenge.
Yet whenever one of our lads commits anything more than a routine foul you can guarantee the opposition are all over the ref demanding red and yellow cards. It’s enough to make you fucking weep.
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It’s the mental gymnastics that are telling. If they came out and said, “yes, sorry, we really messed up today”, it’s not going to change anything but to err is human. The fact that they will happily change the rules of the game at a whim to justify themselves just shows what a bent little old boys club it is. I’m sure that they have prevented more competent officials from gaining a foot hold - that might account for why you see so few women and ethnic minority refs. The face don’t fit. In fact can you think of a single black official in the Premier League? Last one I can remember is Uriah Rennie.
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