SAINTS v Reading: Match Thread

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FA have not announced the Referee yet, we need one that doesn't respond to Player pressure, Reading from what I have seen in recent games do tend to gang up when protesting.

My bet is that someone like HOWARD WEBB or MARK HALSEY will get this game,. Its live on sky sports and the world is watching. Hope for a high scoring DRAW and both clubs can stitch up West Ham Utd.
 
Saints to win 3-0. Then power on to the title and win it comfortably while Reading have a mini blip but still go up.
 
Guly is far better just behind Lambo, were he doesn't have to track back as much. At the start of the season teams had not figured us out. Since they have Guly has not worked on the right at all.

I agree Guly plays well up top with Lambert but with so many options up front i can't see him playing there. Sharp has to play with the form he is in. When Guly does play RM he cuts in from the right wing allowing Richardson plenty of room to cross the ball in for lambert. I do agree about bringing De Ridder for the lsat 20 mins to run at Harte. Thats what Nathan Dyer did to Harte in play off final and look what happened there.
 
My bet is that someone like HOWARD WEBB or MARK HALSEY will get this game,. Its live on sky sports and the world is watching. Hope for a high scoring DRAW and both clubs can stitch up West Ham Utd.

RR Ref Check




Referee – Michael L. Dean
Assistant Referees (Linesmen) – Stuart Dean and Adam Watts
4th Official – Simon Hooper
and … Assessor: Michael Reed


Michael ('Mike') Dean is from Wirral. His record this season:
Games – 37
Yellow cards – 124
Red cards – 4



Special game/s this season? He is classed as a ‘big’ referee – most of his games has been Premier League games this season, with 4 Championship games, 2 FA Cup matches and a solitary League 2 game and Carling cup game. But he’s also refereed in two ‘Europa League’ competition this season (Austria Vienna v Metalist, and Lazio v Sporting Lisbon). He is over average for dealing out yellow cards, but below the half-way mark for reds. Does a game stick out? Yes, perhaps the Premier derby clash between Newcastle and Sunderland (finished 1-1) just over a month ago, when two players took early baths and a further 8 were booked. Also 7 cards (reds+yellows) in the premier clashes Chelsea v Swansea (September), Arsenal v Man Utd (January), Arsenal v Spurs (February) and QPR v Arsenal (March) – obviously not Arsenal’s favourite man to whistle!


Previous Reading matches:
March 2010 v Aston Villa (H - FA Cup Quarter-final) – Reading lose 2-4 (6 yellows, and a penalty)
December 2008 v Birmingham (A) – Reading win 3-1 (3 yellows)
January 2009 v Chelsea (A) – lose 0-1 (no cards)
January 2008 v Portsmouth (H) – lose 0-2 (3 yellows, one red, and a penalty)
August 2007 v Chelsea (H) – lose 1-2 (9 yellows, one red)
December 2006 v Man Utd (A) – lose 2-3 (3 yellows, one red)


Previous Southampton matches:
I haven’t found any instance of Mike Dean having refereed for Southampton previously, I suppose that’s because he’s rarely ‘reffed’ outside top flight, so hasn’t seen the Saints therefore last few seasons …


Comments:
Ref with one of best set of comments from fans all season: “The referee has done a pretty good job on the field. The only thing that is bothering me is no penalty for Chelsea when …” / “Excellent performance from Mike Dean at Craven Cottage last night. One of the best Premier League referees” / “Reasonable performance, a bit yellow card happy.” / “The best ref at the walkers in years, let the game be played how it should be” / “ref had a good game and wasnt too intrusive, capped a fine match by sending that thug off.” / “Great game by Dean IMHO the best ref around Not intimidated by Ferguson and his tactics” / “One of the best refs in premiership” / “Let quite a lot go to keep the game flowing, didn't penalise a Crouch foul in the City area, which could have led to a goal. Not at his best, but that's still better than many” / “Best ref about at the momento”.
There’s always a few en contra, but as these are far and few between I’ll let these slip this week …


Biographical Note:

Michael Leslie Dean (born June 1968) is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League. He is based in Heswall, Wirral. Since his appointment as a Select Group referee in 2000, Dean has officiated a number of notable matches, including the FA Community Shield and the finals of the FA Trophy, FA Cup and Football League Cup.
Dean began refereeing in 1985. He eventually officiated in the Northern Premier League as a referee, becoming a Football League assistant referee in 1995, and progressing to the full referees' list in 1997. He was appointed to the Select Group of referees for the Premier League in 2000, being subsequently promoted to the FIFA list in 2003. Also in 2003, he was fourth official to Graham Barber at the FA Cup final held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, when Arsenal beat Southampton 1–0. Dean took control of the 2004 FA Community Shield match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium, a game which saw the London side win 3–1.[3] He had also refereed the FA Trophy final of that year. Dean was originally appointed to referee the 2006 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium on 13 May 2006 but the Football Association later replaced him with Alan Wiley after concerns were raised about Dean's ability to be impartial towards Liverpool, who are based near his hometown in Wirral. Dean made it to the Millennium Stadium eight days later, though, when he refereed the Championship play-off final between Leeds United and Watford.
Perhaps Dean's highest refereeing honour came on 17 May 2008 when he took charge of that year's FA Cup final between Portsmouth and Cardiff City, with Trevor Massey and Martin Yerby as his assistants and Chris Foy as the fourth official. Dean issued three cautions during the match at Wembley Stadium, which was won 1-0 by Portsmouth.

On 5 April 2009 in a South Wales derby between Cardiff City and Swansea City, Dean suffered a cut to the forehead resulting from what appeared to be a coin thrown by a Cardiff supporter. He later awarded Cardiff a debatable penalty kick, which was converted to earn a draw for the home side. Cardiff's chairman Peter Ridsdale condemned the attack and said that the supporter would be given a life-long ban if found guilty. A 24-year-old Pontypridd man was later convicted over the incident and given a three-year ban and £200 fine. No action was taken by the Football Association of Wales against Cardiff City.

In 2010, Dean was appointed to officiate a fixture at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Chelsea on 3 April, a game which was dubbed a potential Premier League "title decider" in the build-up. Chelsea won the match 2-1. Dean, along with his assistants Simon Beck and Stephen Child, were criticized in the media for turning down up to four penalty appeals, three for Manchester United and one for Chelsea. Didier Drogba scored Chelsea's second goal to give them a 2-0 lead, despite video replays appearing to show he was offside when the ball was played to him. Towards the end of the game, Dean allowed a Manchester United goal to stand when Federico Macheda appeared to bundle the ball over the goal-line with his hands. Burnley manager Brian Laws described the assignment of Dean to the Old Trafford game as "mad".

On 31 January 2011, Dean was appointed to referee the 2011 League Cup final between Arsenal and Birmingham City. Birmingham won the match 2-1, with an 89th-minute winning goal by Obafemi Martins. Dean was the subject of debate over a decision he made in a Premier League fixture between Newcastle United and Chelsea on 3 December 2011. In the fourth minute of the match, he adjudged Chelsea centre-back David Luiz to have fouled Newcastle's Demba Ba when the striker was through on goal. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew later said he "expected" Luiz to be sent off for committing a professional foul, but "couldn't fathom" why Dean opted to show Luiz only a yellow card. Pardew subsequently said that Dean had admitted to him that the failure to send-off Luiz was "a mistake". Chelsea went on to win the game 3-0.

Dean’s first international match came in 2004 when he was appointed to a friendly between the Netherlands and Republic of Ireland at the Amsterdam Arena. The away side won 1–0 thanks to a Robbie Keane goal. On 30 September 2010, Dean refereed a Europa League group stage match between Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla. Early in the second half he showed a second yellow card to Dortmund player Marcel Schmelzer for an alleged dive. The decision was criticized by Dortmund management. Later, Dean elected not to issue a second yellow card to Sevilla defender Fernando Navarro for what appeared a tactical foul on Jakub Błaszczykowski.

Dean has also officiated European Championship qualifying matches. His first appointment was to the Euro 2008 group F qualifier between Iceland and Latvia on 13 October 2007. The game in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík ended with a 4-2 win for the visitors. Dean's next European Championship match was on 12 October 2010 when he oversaw a group A qualifier for Euro 2012 between Belgium and Austria in Brussels. The away team appeared to have secured a 3-2 victory but two Belgium goals on 87 and 89 minutes overturned that scoreline, only for ten-man Austria to score an injury-time equalizer to earn a 4-4 draw.



Additional Articles:

The Guardian - Referee Mike Dean demoted after Manchester United v Chelsea errors (April 2019) - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/07/mike-dean-demotion-alex-ferguson
Article starts: “The Premier League referee Mike Dean has been demoted to the Championship this weekend, as a punishment for his erratic display in Manchester United's 2-1 defeat by Chelsea at Old Trafford last Saturday”



Was Dean caught celebrating a Spurs goal against Arsenal? Judge for yourselves!!
At first I thought “so what” but after seeing it several times, I must admit that the little ‘hop’ does seem to be a pro-Spurs gesture!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6jRHUFlrk&feature=topics
 
Glad to hear this game has sold out - really pissed off I can't go to it. Means one less Guly supporter in the ground :(
 
Sorry lads, now discovered these games for Southampton to go in "Ref Check":

Well, what b****d it was the page having Southampton abbreviated to Southmptn, so didn’t come out in my word search - http://www.football-lineups.com/referee/153/Games/?fo=0&ft=south – even so, don’t see anything after 2006 …

August 2006 v Barnsley (A) – a 2-2 draw (3 yellows, 2 penalties)
October 2004 v Birmingham (H) – a 0-0 draw (one yellow)
February 2004 v Blackburn (A) – a 1-1 draw (2 yellows)
May 2003 v Man City (H) – a 0-1 loss (7 yellows)
August 2002 v Spurs (A) – loss 1-2 (4 yellows, one red, one penalty)
March 2002 v Leicester (H) – a 2-2 draw (4 yellows, one penalty)
November 2000 v Sunderland (A) – a 0-0 draw (2 yellows)
September 2000 v Leicester (A) – a 0-1 loss (no cards)
 
Sorry lads, now discovered these games for Southampton to go in "Ref Check":

Well, what b****d it was the page having Southampton abbreviated to Southmptn, so didn’t come out in my word search - http://www.football-lineups.com/referee/153/Games/?fo=0&ft=south – even so, don’t see anything after 2006 …

August 2006 v Barnsley (A) – a 2-2 draw (3 yellows, 2 penalties)
October 2004 v Birmingham (H) – a 0-0 draw (one yellow)
February 2004 v Blackburn (A) – a 1-1 draw (2 yellows)
May 2003 v Man City (H) – a 0-1 loss (7 yellows)
August 2002 v Spurs (A) – loss 1-2 (4 yellows, one red, one penalty)
March 2002 v Leicester (H) – a 2-2 draw (4 yellows, one penalty)
November 2000 v Sunderland (A) – a 0-0 draw (2 yellows)
September 2000 v Leicester (A) – a 0-1 loss (no cards)

Are you telling me we have never won with him reffing us?! :emoticon-0106-cryin
 
Very happy to see Mike Dean as referee. He's one of the very few referee's who constantly clamps down on shirt pulling in the penalty box. Far too often defenders are fouling the opposition by tugging their shirts, but getting away with it - and it wont stop until more referee's follow Dean's lead. This of course has an added benefit for us, as quite a few of the defenders in this league don't appear to have any idea of how to handle Lambert, expect for holding onto his shirt. So good luck with that Reading, you might just want to defend against Rickie properly.
 
I'm really looking forward to our with you game tomorrow. It has the hall marks of a classic but I suppose could end up dull if we block each other out.

Anyway, just to say, may the best team win on the night and if any of you Saints fans feel like dropping onto our match thead on Royals Rendezvous we'd be pleased to see you. I can promise you its a WUM free zone and is inhabited by true football fans, obviously with a Reading bias, but true fans of other clubs are always welcome.
 
Well Mike Dean is in the Webb / Halsey mould. I shall be watching on the box and praying for a DRAW so that the Hammers can suffer the play-offs. Make it a good one please.!!!!
 
I think, if we win we've basically nailed on for promotion. It's going to be a cagey game with both teams not wanting to lose.

So, draw written all over this one.
 
Readings form just looks unstoppable, sure if you picked a team from the league to stop them it would be us, but i dont know can just see reading winning this
 
Just had my Adkins fix on Player. We are in the here and now...whatever the result on Friday we analyze it, blue line and move on to the next game. Likened it to the Grand National....so we are now on a horse (if there are any left in the Southampton area). The team looked happy, playing some Chinese whispering game...not sure what that was about but it made them laugh.
He remarked that Sharp had to be trained in the Southampton way and was now fitter than before. Said that he wasn't the best he could be yet, then added, 'But neither is Rickie.' Hope we see Rickie at his best next season.
Made me more confident, which will last till 19.45 tomorrow.
 
Like you Alex, I always have a bad feeling before every match and yet we manage to win most of them. We have been top two all season, we are at home, most of our team are fit and firing, Adkins is our manager, and WE ARE SOUTHAMPTON. 2.0 to Saints.