Bruno Fernandes and the United team should be sent off every single game then. I agree that they SHOULD be booking players for dissent and getting into the ref. It would make the game so much better. But they don’t. This ref just decided to be billy big bollocks for this one time. I would be fuming if a saints player got sent off for that.
This. The first weekend it's implemented is always going to look odd as players have got away with it before but in theory they will learn and stop doing it.
I can guarantee that in this weeks fixtures there will plenty of examples of players in the refs faces being aggressive and nothing will happen. Guarantee
No, it happened in multiple games this weekend, therefore the PGMOL are obviously cracking down on it. PGMOL very recently changed head of referees (from Mike Riley to Howard Webb) so Webb has obviously brought it in.
Maybe, but it's the player who runs 20 yards to confront the referee who gets the yellow. That will continue. If this doesn't work in discouraging dissent then maybe the PGMOL will tell referee's to book everyone who isn't the captain.
Big IF tho. How many times have they brought a policy in or indicated they will implement existing laws fully & a few weeks later, all washed away. That said, Webb seems to be stepping up to the plate. Let’s see. Ps. Ooh Lee Mason - everyone knows you were a clown ref & now, officially you can’t do VAR. If Pgmol have any sense, they’ll ditch him totally.
Good to see Webb summoning all referees to a meeting today after the VAR **** ups from the weekend. Being proactive in sorting things out. Hopefully he tells Mason to take a hike.
I certainly agree that Bruno Fernandes should be sent off every single game. You'll not find any objection to that policy from here.
John Brooks, who was due to be VAR for tonight's Merseyside derby and Arsenal v City on Wednesday, has been dropped from both games as a result of his blunder which cost Brighton a goal on Saturday. Good. To draw the offside line in the wrong place is pathetic TBH. Good to see swift action being taken against officials who make such howlers.
VAR getting a real pasting on SSN, because it's a big six team, had it been us they would have done nowt. VAR seemed to be absent at SM on Saturday, could they have confirmed the red for Lemina? I get confused about what they can or cannot do these days, they keep moving the goalposts (probably why we can not get a shot anywhere near them!).
I have made a search for information about this cracking down on players approaching the Referee and can find nothing public on the subject. It would help spectators to understand the decision if the updated decisions were made available to all. I welcome the decision in this case.
This should be the rule anyway imo. Too subjective otherwise. As someone mentioned, they also haven’t made it clear to anyone that the rules have changed. Just ****ing weird all around
The rules haven't changed TBF, just the attitude of the PGMOL has hardened. In my book, someone running full pelt at me during a game is showing dissent and gets dealt with immediately. It's happened very rarely since sin bins were introduced at grassroots level.
I 100% believe refs should be mic'd up in the Prem. Dissent would evaporate overnight when they start losing multi million pound sponsorship deals because they're ****ing awful people
I've been saying this for years. Even if the language is too bad you can broadcast games on a 2 or 3 second delay (which I'm sure already happens) and bleep out the worst of it.
It isn't just Lemina second yellow which I approved of. It was also his first. Too many referees let players get away with a free hit in the first 10 mins. "Too early in the game to book them". Rubbish. A yellow card is a yellow card, regardless of the time on the clock. Without that first yellow, Lemina doesn't get sent off later. Showing more yellow cards for dissent. Good. Showing yellow cards in the first 10 mins. Good. Assuming that these become more permanent changes, then hopefully next on the yellow card hitlist is time-wasting: don't just stand there waving your arm at the keeper for 35 minutes, before finally deciding to book him in the 93rd minute. If he's wasting time in the 65th minute, book him in the 65th minute.