I can definitely see your point. One other thought though is that the most “unnatural” position for the arms to be in, and the only one into which they are intentionally moved, is straight down by your sides. Which kinda makes a mockery of the whole rule.
Sometimes players do put the ball down the middle when taking a penalty and especially when the GK moves....perhaps McCarthy saw something in the run up that suggested to him that was about to happen. Or it was a good penalty. Or McCarthy made a mistake. Better not to blame one person...what ifs drive you mad. What if we'd scored more goals? What if the pen wasn't given in the first place? Ralph told Stephens that these things happen...sensible way to look at it with yet another important game coming up. We won't know till the end of the season whether this was a valuable point or a two dropped points disaster.
Having seen the highlights back now How has Barnes not been sent off for his abuse to the officials. Absolutely disgraceful that he is still on the pitch. Yes he should have had a penalty but Zaha should have had a freekicks Also it’s a foul on Stephens.
bring in video refereeing #hangsheadinshame Oh, wait a minute, Burnley might have had an earlier penalty...back to normal stance.
This picture shows how the new technology would have worked in Saints favour. A clear foul on the defender. Although in truth their first claim should have been given perhaps. A fair result in the end. Anyone no how bad Ings is?
I don't have a problem with refs letting a bit go in the box; football is still supposed to be a contact sport, strikers expect to get their shirts tugged and be generally bullied off the ball, so are entitled to use their own strength to get in position. Impossible to police all that fairly, but then don't penalise the defender for coming off second best.
That little shirt tug would have been impossible to spot and VAR wouldn't have helped there either. I mean come on, that didn't make Stephens throw his arm up in the air. Can't really complain as Burnley were denied a stonewall pen in the first half.
Tom, I am not complaining at all about the penalty and the result, but think about your statement on Stephens. If someone pulls your shirt while your jumping, it is quite plausible that your arm goes up... or his arm went up to appeal. Regardless of the above, if you are a referee... does the first incident not take priority? The foul came before the handball. Finally, why would VAR not have helped. They’d have seen a shirt pull, clearly. Fair result in the end.
Granted it was a howler by the Referee for the first one, but the result is hypothetical, because penalties can be missed, and had we gone down 1 - 0 the game plan would have been changed. When being pulled back like that, the natural reaction is to swing the arms to get balanced. It is almost impossible for a Referee to see that kind of foul, Tall has been doing it and getting away with it for years, it is still cheating however you look at it. VAR would have almost certainly reversed both decisions but two wrongs don't make a right. My point isn't a slur against the Officials, more a defence of Jack Stephens who is getting dogs abuse and it wasn't his fault.
Any comment on Barnes abuse of the lino? Is he likely to get done retrospectively or will they just let it slide because the ref got the pen decision wrong?
I won’t argue with that.........the ref didn’t give it.......so it couldn’t have been stonewall now could it.......?
Not sure they can do him for it. The referee/linesman will have heard what he said and they didn't take any action. That's what has pissed me off the most. Like @fatletiss said, it will send out a message down to grassroots level that players can get away with **** like that.
I could not agree more! What do the kids take from the last week? It’s ok to swear at both officials and get right up in the linesman’s face while doing it BUT make sure you don’t clap the official. Of course neither are acceptable but this inconsistency makes it so hard for the refs to implement it at grass roots level when the ‘professionals’ are getting away with it in the Premier League. The 10 yard dissent was brought in, not used consistently and then axed. Football really needs the FA to start ensuring that refs are consistent with dealing with abuse of the officials otherwise sadly we won’t have any turning up to ref those junior grassroots games.
