It could come under the catagory of time wasting BB - he claimed afterwards that this was his reason for doing it. There had to be a limit here because he could, theoretically, have waited on the goal line for an eternity at a time when his team was leading in the closing stages. I think that this was the referees reasoning, and I would tend to agree with the decision. It was either taunting or time wasting, no other explanation is possible.
...or could he have been looking around to see if he had been pulled up for an infringement or something else ? Anyway, IMHO this is the type of decision that give refs a bad name
He actually looked around on 4 occasions HH, which is 3 too many. The only mistake the ref made was in booking a Bremen player as well for complaining about it. Had I been the ref I would have turned a blind eye if one of the Bremen players had socked him one. He waited until the goalkeeper was nearly there before putting the ball in the net, and did this either to waste time or to taunt the opposition - so anything he got was richly deserved.
The media here have not picked up on anything the ref said after the match - also it's not required that a referee justifies his actions unless there is a disciplinary enquiry against him. The fact is that this was very late in the match and VFB were 1-0 up and so it very clearly qualifies as time wasting - in the same way it does when a goalkeeper holds onto the ball for too long. It was either done with the intention of using up as many seconds as possible - or with the intention of humiliating the opposition, at any rate it was the reverse of sportsmanship. However, I'm not sure if there is a rule about 'taking too long to score a goal' - and so the ref may not be on solid ground legally, but he was morally spot on.
I think there comes a point in the game where the referee has "had enough" of a player's actions. I think that, timewasting aside, it showed a disrespect for the game and there is a "catch-all" provision within the laws for a sanction. Would I have cautioned him? Honestly, it would depend very much on the context of the game but 9/10 not in all probability.
Mmmm I take your point, but should a player then be booked for running to a corner flag and shielding the ball? Unsportsmanlike yes I agree, worth a yellow no, and interesting that you would turn a blind eye to violent conduct...
Of course you cannot have referees who turn a blind eye to players 'socking each other in the gob' This is why I'm not a referee ! There have been many occasions watching Neymar, and his antics on the pitch, where a 'smack in the gob' comes to mind but I'm sure that there are other ways of coping with this. On a human level I can understand people having a short fuse at times but not calculated actions of this type - but, as I said, I'm not a referee.
Agree, I played with and against plenty of players with short fuses, in fact it was sometimes entertaining watching as a goalkeeper how you could see them go through the "gears" of frustration - ok so genuine question....how is that infringement different to a player running to the corner flag to shield the ball and waste time??
As it happened in the 91st minute of a match that he had started in, and he had just made a twenty yard sprint to get the ball, you could equally argue that he was simply knackered and didn't see the need to exert himself further. As for time wasting - referees have the option of adding time on to stoppage time for that. It appears that that could possibly have been the case as Bremen scored four minutes later - in time added on because the referee chose to stop the game and book him.
I agree that it is very difficult to legislate for time wasting when the ball is actually in open play at the time. When a goalkeeper holds onto the ball for too long it is easier to regulate - also it pisses me off when substitutions are made in the last few minutes in order to break up the flow of the game - but that would also be easy to regulate if the will were there. The player running to the corner flag is a similar case to what happened in Bremen ie. within the laws of the game, and in open play. The main difference is that this was not only time wasting but could be construed as also goading the opposition. Waiting for the goalkeeper to get within a metre of you before putting it in the net can only be construed in one way ie. goading the opposition - just as certain reactions after scoring could be seen as goading the crowd, and are, quite rightly, punished.
Time added on is no compensation BB. Time wasting has the goal of breaking up the flow of matches and of giving your own team a bit of a breather. Of course if a substitution is made in the 91st minute, or if a player lies down for no apparent reason then time is added on - but it has broken up the flow of the match which was the main goal. Regarding him being knackered - it would have cost him less energy to just put the ball in the net.
Neither of which normally attract a yellow card - just as 'heading for the corner flag' doesn't, nor does pretending to be about to take a free kick then ambling away while a team mate from the other side of the pitch ambles over to take it. It's that old bugbear about referees - a lack of consistency in how they interpret the rules.
I think that if VfB Stuttgart actually lodge a complaint against the yellow card then the referee's reasons may come to light BB. As yet nothing has happened on this - so we don't know if the ref interpreted it as a time wasting issue, or one of sportsmanship. I think that the latter is probably safer ground. We also don't know how the player had conducted himself over the entire 90 minutes, which also may influence a referee's decision - certainly his reaction after his earlier penalty went in could also have been questionable. The question of goading or provoking either the opposition, or the crowd, is certainly a sticky issue where referees interpretations could be different.
Judging by the reports in the British media - and those of the two players themselves on social media - he was booked for unsportsmanlike behaviour. As for the penalty, I disagree. I can't see anything questionable about celebrating scoring from a penalty by kicking the ball into the net when it bounces straight back out to you.
Another angle on this is to imagine that an opposing player at the Vic were to have the goal at his mercy yet wait for the Watford goalie to get within a metre of him before putting it over the line. It may be within the laws of the game - but had there been a crowd and it was at the Rookery end then it could have been viewed as unnecessary crowd provocation. In such cases a yellow card can be given.
But I'd like to think that our defence wouldn't do what Bremen's did - stand and watch him until it was too late. Even their keeper stood staring into the sky and cursing. Had they/he reacted earlier, the scorer may have been less inclined to do what he did. Each time he looked around, they weren't moving - the defence didn't react until they saw fit to remonstrate with him so they brought it upon themselves really. And he knew there was no crowd there to provoke, so I'm not sure that was relevant.
