The Ref Stop

BHA ARS

The Ref Stop
In a vacuum you can make an easy argument for a careless foul. But years of watching the PL has seen that almost never given in the penalty area. And you can probably find 20 clips this season of that type of challenge not given and no one raising a fuss over it.
 
I understand why it’s given, but I think it’s harsh. I think it’s a big enough touch on the ball for it to be a fair tackle
 
Clear cut penalty for me. If Lamptey gets the ball cleanly and there is unavoidable contact afterwards there is a discussion to be had. In this case his slight touch on the ball is incidental to the main event, which is the trip.
 
Absolute clear penalty, I said it real time and haven't seen anything to change my mind. Yes, there is the slightest of touches on the ball but he then completely wipes Jesus out.
 
I don't think it is as stonewall as others are making out, I think it's harsh, but by definition it is a trip and it is probably a penalty on balance. The problem for me, as @cwyeary points out, we see this challenge multiple times over a season and it is not consistenly punished.

The question I would put to the forum is, hypothetically, if the teams were reversed and this was a challenge on a Brighton player at 0-0, does it get given a penalty? I would put a strong case forward that it doesn't.

MOTD and Sky would have a field day if Brighton got that penalty and derailed the 3 way title race that the Premier League and media so desperately want. It was really difficult to write this without implying that officials are bias, because that isn't what I am getting at, but I do think that officials probably feel a bit of extra pressure at the moment to not make a massive balls up if they are refereeing City, Arsenal or Liverpool (especially after the amount of abuse/criticism they have received this year).
 
Studs into the chest with no touch on the ball is no penalty, one week. So how can it be a penalty when the Brighton player gets a touch on the ball?
 
I'm asking how it can be a penalty in the Brighton game?
Because he glanced the ball ever so slightly and then completely wiped out Jesus.

Too many people are looking at decisions through lens of fans rather than referees, and that isn't what this forum is for. There are penalty of other places for those kinds of posts.
 
Because he glanced the ball ever so slightly and then completely wiped out Jesus.

Too many people are looking at decisions through lens of fans rather than referees, and that isn't what this forum is for. There are penalty of other places for those kinds of posts.
I'm not a fan of any Premier League team. I'm trying to understand why there are occasions that players get a touch on the ball and take the player out and the refs do the ball signal with their hands and play continues. Maybe it's time the subjectivity is removed from the LOTG, as it seems the subjectivity allows for major inconsistencies in the application of the LOTG depending on the teams playing.
 
I'm not a fan of any Premier League team. I'm trying to understand why there are occasions that players get a touch on the ball and take the player out and the refs do the ball signal with their hands and play continues. Maybe it's time the subjectivity is removed from the LOTG, as it seems the subjectivity allows for major inconsistencies in the application of the LOTG depending on the teams playing.
There is a degree of ”what does football expect” and this changes over the seasons, and in different match situations.

One thing to look for is if the attacker might have regained possession without the contact after the tackle. Another to look for is how the defender makes the play on the ball and the type of follow through - if it’s from the side it can be OK, but trailing legs in behind can be easier to penalize.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a fan of any Premier League team. I'm trying to understand why there are occasions that players get a touch on the ball and take the player out and the refs do the ball signal with their hands and play continues. Maybe it's time the subjectivity is removed from the LOTG, as it seems the subjectivity allows for major inconsistencies in the application of the LOTG depending on the teams playing.

I’ll take this one at face value.

In these cases where player and ball are taken together or close together, the contact on the ball is more substantial than in the Lamptey situation.

To paraphrase “it gets enough” of the ball to be a legitimate challenge. Not an expression I like, but the best I can come up with here.

In this case Lamptey hasn’t played the ball so much as deflected it, swiped at it and failed to make a significant contact consistent with it and in doing so wipes out the attacker.

Also remember it’s one look and snap decision. The direction the ball travels can be a factor in the decision making process. If it goes in the same *expected* direction as a clean challenge would, that adds to the impression it’s fair. This is a simple piece of psychology. “What we see is what we expect to see in this scenario and so it must be that…”
 
Back
Top