The Ref Stop

FA Cup Chelsea-Norwich

Nalbi

Well-Known Member
Level 4 Referee
I can't be the only one on here watching this one! Any thoughts on the 2 non penalty calls?
 
The Ref Stop
Personally, thought both decisions were correct. The fact that the "pundits" couldn't agree on the second (i.e. dive/no dive), demonstrates how hard it is, even with a VAR. Interested to know what words were said to get the yellow upgraded to a red...
 
As a Chelsea fan, going to do a Wenger and say "No comment!"

Shocking dive by Pedro, deservedly yellow then yellow/red carded on both occasions.

As for the game as a whole, Chelsea were poor in both ties, full credit to Norwich who gave a good account of themselves and could probably consider themselves unlucky not to have gone through.
 
Both were clear acts of simulation imo. I think Pedros is blatant so no further comment needed.
Morata? Yes there is contact. But its no penalty. I feel it was simulation as the window of opportunity to "go down" was missed and the reaction of going down was delayed and looked, imo again, staged and theatrical. I think the reverse angle was tje conclusive one for me and neither incident required VAR intervention.
Nice to see dissent cautions being issued lately. I have a sneaking suspicion Glenn Loovens second yellow was for dissent on Friday just past in the derby. Long may it continue .
 
I was cheering for the Morata dissent caution like it was a goal. Clear clear dissent that any of us would be destroyed for not cautioning if we were being observed....and shocker a prem ref actually did it even though it was second yellow. Brilliant.

It happens every week but the "pundits" let us down here. Graham Scott was brilliant and they kept talking about how bad the ref was and how inaffectual VAR was - when it could of been a great opportunity to help fans of the game understand the laws. AS had a crazy line on the Willian dive/pen debate "4 former players think it's not a pen, two referees think it's a dive...it's definitely a pen"....what?!
 
WE should be all congratulating Graham Scott for the three-card trick for Morata. Dealing with the cheating (as that what his dive was) and then the dissent in a text book manner. :):redcard:

The press should asking Chelsea about "how does it feel to be a team of cheats?" not that a difficult decision was not given as a penalty!.

Chelsea will be refereed like Klinnsmann and they would get penalties unless it is the most obvious!

PS - I had hope they had but Andy Carroll - he is improve their disciplinary record:facepalm:
 
I agree with almost all his decisions. But to clarify, i thought it was a superb performance on the night. The one that i slightly disagree with is the Willian YC. To me the clips were not conclusive 100% as the Pedro and Morata ones, there is contact with the defender's foot, now we can debate whether it was Willian who was seeking such contact and left his leg hanging... But again it wasn't 100% clear (to me at least).
 
3YC for diving is more than most teams get in an entire season - and only one of them is even remotely debatable. I absolutely agree that the press need to put far more of a focus on why Chelsea players think that's acceptable, along with the incredible over the top reaction that got Morata sent.
 
I agree with almost all his decisions. But to clarify, i thought it was a superb performance on the night. The one that i slightly disagree with is the Willian YC. To me the clips were not conclusive 100% as the Pedro and Morata ones, there is contact with the defender's foot, now we can debate whether it was Willian who was seeking such contact and left his leg hanging... But again it wasn't 100% clear (to me at least).
But Willian cannot have been a clear and obvious mistake, otherwise the VAR would have been involved...? Graham Scott made the call seeing it once, in real time - and the post-match arguments for it being incorrect for me don't outweigh the arguments for it being the right decision, and that's with multiple replays.

Let's hope someone at FA towers is reading this, and can instruct all top league referees to deal with dissent in the same way. It might strengthen what happens (or needs to happen) at grass roots.
 
On one hand - yes. brilliant to see YCs for simulation and also the sharp second YC for Morata's dissent.

But, consistency.

GS has refereed this game differently from the convention. Pedro's YC, yes, you would hope 9/10 times in prem games would be a YC. But Willian's pen is 9/10 a pen, and Morata being held and then going down is 50/50 nothing/pen. If fouls are now going to be decided on how an attacker reacts to contact that's going to be interesting. In law IMHO Morata is held for the pen, and then dives for the YC - so it should be pen, YC and RC for the defender if you think it's DOGSO (debatable)!

The Willian non-pen (and Morata non-pen) mean this is another VAR fail for me. There's contact, there's enough contact, the defender admits after the game there's contact, it's a trip, it's a pen. You want to give a YC for simulation based on how the player reacts to being fouled? I am so confused it hurts. And don't use the VAR to clarify the original foul. I hurt more.

The convention has been that simulation YCs are only given where there is no foul (and usually clearly no contact), right? Willian was tripped, Morata was held... these are fouls, no?

It is such a shame that the VAR questions will cloud this game. It would have been great if GS had refereed this and made these decisions without it.
 
I'm not having the morata one @santa sangria, that's a dive, all day. There's an arm on his shoulder, sure, is it enough to send him to the ground like that? absolutely not. In fact the defender removes his hand from Morata's shoulder before he drops to the ground. A very minor/trifling bit of contact imo, wouldn't go as far as labeling it a pull.
 
I'm not having the morata one @santa sangria, that's a dive, all day. There's an arm on his shoulder, sure, is it enough to send him to the ground like that? absolutely not. In fact the defender removes his hand from Morata's shoulder before he drops to the ground. A very minor/trifling bit of contact imo, wouldn't go as far as labeling it a pull.
Seemed to me a moment of realisation from the defender that no I cant do that here and now. Morata has felt the touch and gone for it and it ended up being some quick, smart thinking from the defender in the end.
 
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The way Willian went down left no choice for GS but to stop play. A free kick had to be given there one way or other. Willian left his leg ganging out there and in fact it looked like he was going down before contact was made. The tackle form the defender didn't look good either so I can see the case for a penalty too but I wouldn't give a pen for that. And it was not a clear error so VAR couldn't suggest a review either. The other two were nailed on dives.

On the VAR, if the Willian decision was to be reviewed, it could have only been to see if it was a pen, not for if it was a dive. yellow card decisions can't be reviews.
Also the ARs still haven't learned to delay an offside flag for a imminent goal opportunity. Three was another close offside call flagged immediately in this game which preceded a 1on1 with the keeper. There was no goal. The offside call turned out to be wrong on replay. There would have been problems if a goal was scored.
 
The way Willian went down left no choice for GS but to stop play. A free kick had to be given there one way or other. Willian left his leg ganging out there and in fact it looked like he was going down before contact was made. The tackle form the defender didn't look good either so I can see the case for a penalty too but I wouldn't give a pen for that. And it was not a clear error so VAR couldn't suggest a review either. The other two were nailed on dives.

On the VAR, if the Willian decision was to be reviewed, it could have only been to see if it was a pen, not for if it was a dive. yellow card decisions can't be reviews.
Also the ARs still haven't learned to delay an offside flag for a imminent goal opportunity. Three was another close offside call flagged immediately in this game which preceded a 1on1 with the keeper. There was no goal. The offside call turned out to be wrong on replay. There would have been problems if a goal was scored.

Not strictly true, as long as the referee doesn’t blow up for the offside before the player has scored, or not as the case may be, then they can go back and review the offside to see whether it is correct or not and then either award the goal or IDFK
 
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