Thoughts on the Weekend

Our old friend inconsistency was at the forefront of everyone’s mind again this week.

We have previously argued in these blogs that inconsistency can be explained away by human nature – and again we want the refs to be human, don’t we? And that remains the case but equally, even at Referee Jobs, if a ref gets it wrong then we have to say so.

And so it is that we have to say that Mike Dean got his decision wrong when decided to only give David Luiz a yellow card when he hauled back Demba Ba.

Luiz clearly denied a goal scoring opportunity when he fouled the Newcastle man and, as such, he should have been sent off.

This wasn’t the only mistake of the day either, as a little later in the afternoon Stuart Attwell – who has been no stranger to controversy in his short career – sent off Bolton’s Gary Cahill against Spurs.

It was debateable whether Cahill was the last man, and indeed his red card has subsequently been rescinded, but still the knives were out for the refs.

Unfortunately for referees everything they do is highly scrutinised, and they know this when they sign on for the job. It is easy for the media and for Managers to blame the officials – and the sight of Owen Coyle marching onto the pitch at White Hart Lane to remonstrate with Attwell was unedifying to say the least.

Bolton would most probably have lost that game if it had stayed 11 v 11. The form they have shown this season indicates that they were no match for Spurs, and as we have again argued on these blogs over the last few months, it really is getting to the stage when we have to question the point of the post-match press conference.

I was thinking this again on Monday when Kenny Dalglish (who we have mentioned quite a bit on these pages) said that “decisions went against us” in the wake of the defeat against Fulham. A game they lost, just like the other games during which King Kenny has blamed the ref.

I watched the match on the TV and Referee Kevin Friend absolutely did not cost them the match. What cost them the match was their own wasteful finishing; you know of the two strikers that cost them £50 odd million, and errors from their England right back and world class goalkeeper.

As for the sending off of Jay Spearing, it might have been harsh, but if Mr. Friend deems the tackle to unnecessarily aggressive then he has to produce the red card.

It’s in the rules.

And those rules are something that the Dalglish’s and the Coyle’s of this world might do well to have a brief acquaintance with