The Ref Stop

Stoke City v Manchester City

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bloovee

RefChat Addict
Stoke's penalty will be a talking point. Comments about Mike Dean's one-man crusade against holding at corners, Sky making up stuff about a "directive" (which from other games it seems only Mr Dean knows about it).

The incident: Sterling facing Shawcross and blocking his run at a corner; both players arms are extended. The only directive is to clarify that "Impedes an opponent with contact" is a DFK.

https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/ur1f.mp4

I imagine MotD will highlight lots of similar incidents at corners with no penalty given.

But why on earth a yellow card? (But not for some reckless tackles...)

Will this be a case of "last week's ref"? Someone watching streams of the 3 pm kick-offs posted, "Refs can now decide what score they want any game to be, because players right now are doing what Sterling did & the refs are in position to see it".
 
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I suspect it was all down to the first one against Shawcross. He's given this, even though it was "unexpected", and cautioned him for it.

Whilst I agree the second one was softer, was it incorrect. Sterling twice tries to grab Shawcross at throat height, and at no point is he looking at the ball, so I can see why Dean gave it. And for consistency purposes he cannot really not caution Sterling for holding / pushing at a corner when he has already cautioned Shawcross earlier. Personally I don't think the second one would have been given had the first one not been, but equally I don't think either player can argue too much.

I also understand that the PGMOL did go to all clubs to explain that referees would be looking to penalise this, so clubs and players were warned. There will never be total consistency though as no referee can ever see everything that goes on at a set piece, so some will get penalised some will get away with it.
 
Stirling at no point looks at the ball.he only job is to stop Shawcross from getting to the ball.
How is that too different from a defender tugging an attacker back on the halfway line?
 
I've been giving pens for that for years, Sterling was a foul all day long. Well done MD, about time this was given.
 
I see Shawcross didn't think he was impeded - but that may be because he's more likely to be sinner than sinned against.

I'm still not sure why either incident needed a caution - hardly clear goalscoring opportunities or breaking up a promising attack.
 
Why is number 21 wearing a dark blue undershirt? Simple stuff
Anyway, the foul went the wrong way. I don't think the defender actually pushed the attacker - the attacker saw the arms and pushed him first, and he had a longer reach than the attacker did. Defender's arms went up but didn't do anything. Defender had no impact whatsoever on the attacker. Attacker then committed another foul against that player by pushing him to the side as he ran into the drop zone, then a third foul on one of the defenders jumping for the ball. IMO this is a classic case of the referee deciding a foul is going to occur and having that colour his view of the incident.
 
Re Sterling/Shawcross

In my early refereeing days a mentor warned me to keep an eye on players turning their back on corners. His point was that if the player is not facing the ball then you have to question what his intent is. For me, Sterling's only intention was to impede Shawcross.

On a general football point - isn't Sterling a rather strange choice to be picking up Shawcross at corners?
 
Not if he's only there to get in his way....

I think the "impeding with contact" thing is the problem. The old obstruction rule was fairly simple, but (at top level) I can't see there ever being an IDFK for impeding without contact. Either the referee will not give anything, or the impeded player will make sure (as here) that there is contact. (Does it matter who pushed whom first if one player is trying to impede his opponent? How violent can the impeded player be when making contact to ensure he gets the DFK/penalty? Will Diego Costa spend even more time on the deck in the penalty area than before?)

If Shawcross hadn't tried to get past Sterling, should it be an IDFK? Isn't every GK impeded at every corner? Isn't that why teams put their tallest player in front of the GK?
 
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