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Monday, October 26, 2015

Premier League Review Week 10: Madley questioned for Wear-Tyne derby call

Sunderland 3-0 Newcastle                              Referee: Robert Madley
Madley came under fire for a very questionable penalty and red card decision against Fabricio Coloccini.
45+1st Minute: Sunderland's Steven Fletcher is running through on goal when Fabricio Coloccini knocks him off the ball with a shoulder-to-shoulder nudge. Madley calls a penalty and sends Coloccini off for Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity, though I wouldn't have even called a foul since the contact was very slight and shoulder-to-shoulder.

Madley making the controversial decision
West Ham United 2-1 Chelsea                       Referee: Jonathan Moss
Moss was the latest referee to draw the ire of Jose Mourinho, though I thought he was pretty good in the match overall.
44th Minute: Chelsea's Nemanja Matic is already booked when he comes in hard on Diafra Sakho to stop a Hammers attack. Moss originally just awards a free kick, but correctly gives Matic a second yellow after conferring with AR Harry Lennard. Moss did well to manage the effects of the decision by correctly showing yellows to two Chelsea players who took part in a mass confrontation after the play, as well as dismissing Jose Mourinho for pursuing the incident into the tunnel at half time.

Arsenal 2-1 Everton                                      Referee: Lee Mason
It was a very quiet match for Mason until chose to send off Gareth Barry with under 30 seconds left.
94th Minute: Kieran Gibbs is running down the wing for Arsenal when his attack is slowed by a clip from an already booked Barry. Mason chooses to give Barry a second yellow and I agree since Mason didn't really have a choice given that the foul stopped a promising attack.

Bournemouth 1-5 Tottenham                       Referee: Roger East
East had another good performance as he starts to see more action following an illness that kept him out for 6 weeks.
9th Minute: As Harry Kane gets the ball in the box, he is clearly tripped up by Bournemouth keeper Artur Boruc. Easy penalty decision for East, who correctly points to the spot.

Liverpool 1-1 Southampton                         Referee: Andre Marriner
94th Minute: Southampton goal-scorer Sadio Mane is already booked when he trips up Alberto Moreno as he sprints up the wing. This was a clear stopping a promising attack scenario, and therefore I agree with Marriner's decision to show Mane a second yellow.

Aston Villa 1-2 Swansea                              Referee: Neil Swarbrick
Leicester City 1-0 Crystal Palace                 Referee: Mike Dean
Stoke City 0-2 Watford                                Referee: Martin Atkinson
Norwich City 0-1 West Bromwich Albion  Referee: Kevin Friend
Manchester United 0-0 Manchester City     Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Swarbrick, Dean, Atkinson, Friend and their crews had quiet games with not much controversy overall. Nothing to go in depth on from these four matches.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

MLS Decision Day Reports: Huge Calls by Assistants Play Major Roll in West Playoffs

Philadelphia 1-0 Orlando                       Referee: Chris Penso (United States)
Penso showed 10 yellow cards in this match, with one being a second yellow.
40th Minute: Orlando's Cristian Higuita pushes over Sebastien Le Toux as he goes for a cross into the box. Penso calls a penalty and I agree since although Le Toux had no chance of getting to the ball, Higuita still committed a foul on Le Toux. Good decision by Penso.
86th Minute: Higuita is already booked for a foul in the 72nd minute when he slaps Tranquillo Barnetta in the face as they are fighting for possession. Easy call for Penso, who correctly gives a second yellow to Higuita.

NYCFC 1-3 New England                     Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)
Marrufo called one late penalty in this match in favor of NYCFC.
91st Minute: Marrufo points to the spot after New England's Daigo Kobayashi blocks a cross with his arm, which is slightly extended from his body. Good call by Marrufo, though the decision was meaningless in a Revs rout.

Sporting Kansas City 2-1 LA Galaxy    Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)
Geiger himself had a quiet match, but AR Kermit Quisenberry had to make one of the most important calls of Decision Day.
38th Minute: Kevin Ellis of Sporting KC knocks in the rebound of a Chance Myers to put the heartland side up 1-0. Unfortunately, Ellis was clearly offsides by a good yard and a half when Myers headed the ball. However, Quisenberry doesn't call offsides, and the goal proves to be key in a 2-1 Sporting win that had mammoth implications on the Western Conference playoff picture.

Dallas 2-1 San Jose                                Referee: Armando Villarreal (United States)
Much like Geiger, Villarreal didn't see much controversy himself but had his AR make a huge decision.
67th Minute: Matias Perez Garcia of San Jose gets into an off-ball shoving match with Mauro Diaz, but then decides to make contact with Diaz's head as the shoves continue. AR Peter Manikowski notices this and instructs Villarreal to send Perez Garcia off, a decision which I agree with due to the violent nature of the contact.
Villarreal explains the decision to unhappy San Jose players
Chicago 1-2 New York Red Bulls         Referee: Ricardo Salazar (United States)
Salazar called one penalty in the clinching match for the Supporters Shield for New York.
34th Minute: Chicago's Patrick Nyarko shoves Mike Grella off the ball in the box, which constitutes as a clear penalty in my book. Salazar sees this and correctly points to the spot.

Montreal 2-1 Toronto FC                       Referee: Alan Kelly (Ireland)
Columbus 5-0 D.C. United                    Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Portland 4-1 Colorado                            Referee: Baldomero Toledo (United States)
Vancouver 3-0 Houston                         Referee: Kevin Stott (United States)
Seattle 3-1 Real Salt Lake                      Referee: Sorin Stoica (United States)
These four officials and their crews both had quiet matches without controversy. Nothing to look at here.

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

MLS Week 33 Reports: Altidore sees red from the bench

Toronto FC 2-1 New York Red Bulls      Referee: Fotis Bazakos (United States)
Bazakos had an interesting moment in this match when he sent Jozy Altidore off for a rare offense committed from the bench.
34th Minute: Bazakos stops play after receiving word that someone from Toronto's bench has abused 4th Official Daniel Radford from the bench. After conferring with AR CJ Morgante and Radford, he determines the abuser to be Altidore and shows him the red card. Since I don't know what was said, I can't tell you whether I think Bazakos got it right or not, though the lack of complaint from Altidore tells me that he knew the red card was correct.

CJ Morgante identifies Altidore as the offender
FC Dallas 2-0 Vancouver                        Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero (United States)
Rivero called one penalty in this match, but I think he unfortunately got it wrong.
42nd Minute: Tim Parker of Vancouver appears to cleanly win the ball from Michael Barrios in the box with a great challenge, but Rivero points the spot after Barrios goes to ground. To me, there wasn't enough contact to warrant a penalty, though luckily for Rivero it didn't matter since Mauro Diaz missed the kick.

Real Salt Lake 0-1 Portland                     Referee: Juan Guzman (United States)
Guzman called a penalty and showed a red card on one play in this match, but I only thought the red was warranted.
52nd Minute: Lucas Melano of Portland is running through on goal when he is pulled down by RSL's last man back Jamison Olave. Guzman correctly shows Olave a red card for Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity and then goes over to AR Corey Rockwell, who also saw a penalty on the play. Guzman agrees and points to the spot, but it seems evident to me that Melano was outside the box when he was fouled by Olave. Big mistake from both Guzman and Rockwell on this play.

LA Galaxy 2-5 Portland                           Referee: Alan Kelly (Ireland)
Kelly whistled for a penalty once during this match, and I think he got it right.
67th Minute: Portland's Fanendo Adi is trying to reach a low cross in the box when he is pushed over from behind by Dan Gargan. Kelly calls a penalty, and I agree since there was clear contact that prevented Adi from getting to the ball.

Orlando 2-1 NYCFC                                Referee: Allen Chapman (United States)
San Jose 1-0 Sporting Kansas City          Referee: Kevin Stott (United States)
Toronto FC 0-2 Columbus                       Referee: Chris Penso (United States)
New England 0-1 Montreal                      Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)
Real Salt Lake 0-1 FC Dallas                   Referee: Jorge Gonzalez (United States)
DC United 4-0 Chicago                            Referee: Sorin Stoica (United States)
New York Red Bulls 4-1 Philadelphia     Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Houston 1-1 Seattle                                   Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (United States)
Chapman, Stott, Penso, Geiger, Gonzalez, Stoica, Elfath, and Jurisevic all had quiet games with not much controversy. Nothing to look at from these eight matches.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Premier League Referee Rankings for October 2015

1. Martin Atkinson (no change)
Atkinson has remained very strong this season, and despite an iffy Merseyside Derby last week, he narrowly gets the top spot based on a string of very strong performances in the early stages of the English Premier League. -- Bob Smith

2. Mark Clattenburg (+1)
Clattenburg hasn't been at his best and would've probably stayed in place if it wasn't for struggles by other officials, especially after a very questionable penalty decision in Norwich-Leicester that helped the Foxes snag an away win. Clattenburg still needs to find his groove, but a lack of serious howlers this season keeps him near the top in our rankings. -- Harrison Johnson

3. Michael Oliver (+1)
Oliver continues to move up our rankings, as he continues to make the right call in big situations, leading to another huge appointment in September for United-Liverpool. Oliver did get a penalty wrong in Bournemouth-Watford last week, but it doesn't change the fact that he has been very good this season. -- Neil Tyler

4. Mike Dean (-2)
Dean started the year at the top of our list, but he has tumbled out of the top 3 after a mess of a performance in Chelsea-Arsenal, specifically failing to send Diego Costa for slapping Laurent Koscielny in the face three times and slapping Gabriel in the face. Couple this with a penalty miss in Villa-United in week 2, and this has not been a good season for Dean. -- Will Cole

5. Anthony Taylor (no change)
Taylor has been stellar in recent weeks after a rocky start, culminating in an appointment to Arsenal-United during Matchday 8. He hasn't had much to deal with in any recent performance, but that's no obstacle to keeping him in the top 5. -- Bob Smith

6. Craig Pawson (no change)
Much like Anthony Taylor, Pawson had a rocky start with some controversy in Matchday 2 but has seen a string of quieter performances, leading to a solid start to the campaign. Look for Pawson to potentially get a big match in the upcoming weeks. -- Harrison Johnson

7. Jonathan Moss (+3)
Moss is generally considered a middle of the road referee who can be inconsistent, but he has looked really strong this season. Every big decision he has made has been right so far, and he has catapulted up our list following a run of well-managed matches. -- Neil Tyler

8. Lee Probert (-1)
Probert is a strong referee in our opinion, but his health remains a concern after an aggravation of a knee injury that kept him out for much of last season has sidelined him for the first two months of the season. We believe Probert is one of the best referees, but his unavailability drops him another spot. --Will Cole

9. Phil Dowd (-1)
Dowd is dealing with historic injury issues that have kept him out since February. Much like Lee Probert, we feel that Dowd is one of England's best referees but can't avoid dropping in the rankings due to his absence. -- Bob Smith

10. Andre Marriner (-1)
Marriner just can't find his groove this season. Every match he's officiated has been inconsistent, including some questionable yellows in Newcastle-Arsenal on Matchday 4. He's been good in the past, but he has no rhythm right now, which drops his ranking in our list. -- Harrison Johnson

11. Lee Mason (no change)
Mason hasn't seen many matches this year, but aside from a big mistake in Palace-Arsenal, he has been his usual decent self. He still really struggles with consistency, which was evident in the aforementioned Palace-Arsenal match, and that keeps him just out of the top 10 -- Neil Tyler

12. Mike Jones (+1)
Jones has done really well so far this year after having serious issues with making unfairly harsh calls last year. He even got appointed to Tottenham-Everton, and some good performances overall have moved him up to 12th in the rankings. -- Will Cole

13. Neil Swarbrick (-1)
Swarbrick hasn't been poor by any standard this season, but he has hardly officiated any Premier League matches this season, which makes him more vulnerable to getting passed in our list by well performing officials like Jones. -- Bob Smith

14. Robert Madley (+1)
Madley has seen some big appointments this season and had done well up until he struggled in Chelsea-Southampton, with 3 potential penalties missed. Had that not happened, Madley might have moved up even higher on our list. -- Harrison Johnson

15. Roger East (-1)
East finally officiated his first game back from a long-term illness that kept him out for the first 6 weeks of the season. He was good in his first match back, but hasn't done enough yet to avoid falling behind Madley. -- Neil Tyler

16. Kevin Friend (no change)
Friend hasn't really made any big mistakes since his high-profile Liverpool-West Ham debacle, but his tendency to make huge mistakes is still holding him back from moving towards the top of our list. If he can continue to avoid trouble, he could conceivably move up a spot. -- Will Cole

17. Graham Scott (no change)
Scott still hasn't officiated his first BPL match as a Select Group Referee after an injury has kept him out of action until this upcoming week, when he will take charge of Burnley-Bolton in the Championship. If all goes well there, Scott could be the referee in his first BPL match of the season next weekend.

BONUS SECTION
Promotion Rankings
1. Keith Stroud
2. Stuart Attwell
3. Paul Tierney
4. Simon Hooper

Monday, October 5, 2015

Felix Brych is our September Referee of the Month

Brych
German UEFA Elite referee Felix Brych was named by our writers as the referee of the month for September after some good domestic work as well as a very good performance in Porto-Kyiv during Matchday 1 of the UCL. Congratulations to Brych on his strong work recently, and we wish him and every referee the best of luck this October.