Was the Robbo foul worse than the Kane one? That may have met his threshold for a red card which the first didn’t even though we believe that both were clear reds. In terms of the penalties, has he awarded ones that are less obviously a handball?
He possibly has. However, you can’t just look at individual decisions as that is the fallacy of cherry picking data. You would have to see every decision that he has made and determine whether the outliers have something in common: do they always favour one team, or the home team or are more likely to occur in early/late in the game etc.
Becker played 90 m twice
Núñez played almost 90 minutes twice
Diaz played almost 90 minutes twice
Mac Allister played 45 and 90 minutes.
The Brazil match was delayed for Hooliganism lets hope Becker did not mis his flight.
Where the hooligans wearing Man City shirts? 
Us and City have organized a private jet, so it’s been sorted.
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You missed the question.
Why did Kane stay on the pitch?
Surely its a blatant red card?
We can argue the semantics and data all day long, and I think its pointless.
But no answer to why Kane stays on pitch.
Because he is the topscorer and captain of England.
From memory, it was given as a yellow? I think it was a red but I’m not the VAR assistant. What did he do in all other incidents that he had to determine in every game. What is his threshold? Remember these are all subjective decisions - it’s not a line call.
I am not really expecting an answer to be honest, because its a mystery.
@Dutch has theorised the England captain issue…maybe so.
Maybe he grew up in Manchester and his brother is a City season ticket holder. Maybe he feels those allegiances.
Maybe he just thinks Kane is a saint and Robbo is an assasin.
Maybe he thought Rodri didn’t handle the ball vs Everton. Maybe he couldn’t face giving Everton a penalty.
Truth is, I dont know.
Fact is he got two major decisions very wrong. Truth is he cost Liverpool and benefitted City with both questionable decisions.
I don’t think he should be ref on Saturday.
I respect your opinion, always do…and we could as I said argue the semantics all day…
Hopefully we won’t need a decision to win us the match anyway.
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Here is the challenge. I don’t think a challenge like that is a subjective call. It’s a blatant red card.
Part of the problem here is that the referees are fucking basic. You have the ‘England Captain’ privilege, but there is also the issue that (from memory) I think Robbo gets up pretty quickly, and Kavanagh goes ‘Ah well, he’s fine. Let’s leave it as a yellow’. If Robbo stays down for five minutes he gives him a decision to make. It shouldn’t be like that, but it is.
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Without the audio we don’t even know what Tiernay is saying though.
“Thanks mate. Well done boys, good process…”
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Well this is it.
End of the day anyone we would have got is shocking.
Because all the “elite” ones are generally shit. I’m not that confident anyhow as we rarely do well there, but perhaps a bit more analysis of the team.
Early yellow’s for our boys on Saturday…? Probably
Early yellow’s for the The Cheaters…? Probably Not
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Pre-emptive ref blaming. This is getting like Hollywood. If we play better football and score more goals than them, we win. Simple. It doesn’t hinge on one decision because if it does in the post match debate, the absolute truth is that we didn’t play well enough. Just beat them, get it done. Puts us top and marching to our perch.
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This is simplistic, not simple. First of, in football the better team doesn’t always get to win. And second, how many times have we lost points by refereeing decisions when we were clearly the better team?
Not that I like the focus being placed on the officials before the game even takes place, but given how inept and disruptive they’ve been, it isn’t suprising and unjustified.
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My 2p on the Ref/Kavanagh discussion.
Kavanagh has made crucial mistakes/decisions that have gone against Liverpool. He is also likely to have made crucial mistakes/decisions that have gone our way - but those are often overlooked and forgotten by our fans (myself included).
When we start analysing all the refs, they’ve all made mistakes/decisions that have gone for and against us. No matter what name is discussed, we usually have a dislike for them, and a couple of example decisions to back the arguments up for the dislike.
The focus on refs before the game gives us the chance to have a bullet in the chamber ready for firing - to state the refs cost us, when often, over the course of a match, whilst the refs decisions are usually a key factor, the decisions the players make are often the bigger factor in the outcome of games. Missing the target, playing poor passes etc.
Therefore, I prefer to focus on our performance before, during, and after the game, notwithstanding that I love to moan about poor decisions by refs. Focusing on the refs just puts me in a bad mood from the off - makes me even more aggy around the games.
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I’d doubt the fact he captains the national team comes into a decision
I think it was a red. It was a really bad out of control challenge, but the impact was significantly mitigated by Robbo’s reaction. It definitely has that “ooofffff” factor, like Havertz’s did the other week. But it lacks a lot of the criteria refs look for when assessing a straight red. And so as much as I think it was a red, we will see maybe 30 of those in a season go unpunished without a red.
In contrast you will simply never see a challenge like Robbo’s go unpunished without a red.
Feeling hard done on the balance of the game is maybe understandable. Making any argument that involves complaining about Robbo’s red is not.
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This is a really important point. Robbo just - just - manages to get his studs out of the grass. By a split second. If he doesn’t manage to lift his foot it’s a season ender, and possibly another David Busst.
And then Robbo gets up, doesn’t make a fuss etc. Because he’s an honest lad.
To contrast with the Robbo one, it’s a wild swipe, and obviously a red. But it isn’t doing any serious damage. Ask any player which tackle they would rather be on the end of, and you’ll only get one answer. That’s where the calibration in decision making is ridiculous.
The problem is that officials should not be basing their decisions on the reactions of, or impact on, the fouled player. That’s madness.
Robbo getting up and brushing it off should not be coming into the referees thinking. It was a disgraceful challenge, and that Robbo escaped serious injury by millimetres and milliseconds doesn’t change that.
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