Manchester City v Hull City (12:45) Referee: P Dowd Assistants: D Cann, P Kirkup Fourth Official: M Atkinson Be miles better than that clueless muppet Jones (hopefully). Source: http://www.premierleague.com/content/premierleague/en-gb/referees/appointments.html
Seems like a good place to post this mostly irrelevant rant: I'm sick of hearing managers and pundits complain about a decision and say "If the ref can't see it from there, the linesman must see it." Where has this cliche come from? Linesmen have plenty to worry about with watching offsides, when the ball is kicked and line calls. Expecting them to look the other way to spot fouls as well is a bit much. Yes if they are sure then obviously they should give it but I don't think it's their job to be sure. The ref only has to watch what's happening on the ball. If he misses something, why would the linesman see it with so much else to focus on?
Is that good ? All linesman have to do is look for offside and fouls. Not the hardest job in the world. But Phil Dowd ffs, just a step above that muppet Jones from last saturday. imo. Maybe this thread needs merging into the game thread ? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sorry tickles, but I can't be doing with naive views like that. As someone who's done it I can tell you it's ****ing difficult. If a striker is making a run for a 30 yard pass you have to know the exact point that the ball is kicked and the exact point the attacker passes the defender. I'd like you to try looking at 2 different points 30 yards apart at exactly the same time before saying how easy it is.
Off-sides are definitely the hardest ones to call, they do seem to get most of them right in the Premier League, even some close ones(they're never going to call them all the right way). What used to annoy me, was in the lower leagues when we had some fat ****er who couldn't keep up with play and had absolutely no idea if someone was on or off and simply guessed. I even remember some fat little herbert in League Two, who was just allowing one and flagging one for an entire game.
There was also some fat little ****er a couple of years back who just looked at who had the ball and if he thought he could catch up with play let it go on, and if it was someone quick just gave offside so he didn't have to try.
