Thought MIke Dean had a great game,shame he bottled it for Matic second yellow - he went to his pocket,but overall no complaints.great game.
The issue for me is that he blotted his copy book, by clearly bottling the biggest decision. He was excellent, but any other player would have been booked. Any one saying it would have ruined the game, tough! He missed a clear opportunity that could have altered the outcome of the game. I can live with them getting 50/50 ones wrong, but the Matic decision was unbelievable. Well done Mourinho - job done. I just can't see how you can say "No complaints" when clearly the opposition should have been down to ten men for 40 minutes.
They discussed on Sky how he got the decision right distinguishing between Mane's penalty and the very similar situation where Fonte got the ball first. In the first case, Mane was touched before the ball. Credit where it is due...a correct decision based on how it looked to him.
Ivanovic hammed up his fall for sure, but his foot was definitely clipped by Tadic. It could have been a pen, although I think the no-call was correct. Dean went towards his pocket quite a bit without actually issuing cards. I noticed that in the first half. I don't know whether he was just giving warnings and writing notes, or if he was just preparing for or trying to prevent a fracas or getting surrounded by the players. He had a good game overall, IMO. If Ivanovic weren't already sitting on a yellow we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. And the first yellow was only a yellow because it was in the box and a semi-obvious goal scoring situation. It wasn't a professional foul, just a bad challenge. And not a horrible challenge, just mistimed. I thought he made the right call... but it wasn't very much different than Ivanovic getting clipped. In the big picture the game played out about the way it should have.
Heh. Well Mane's a foreigner and he got one today despite having taken a couple dives himself (though he seems to have cut it out). But yeah, I do think that Ivanovic's reputation preceded him on that one. I doubt either the ref or the linesman saw the clip anyway, but I think they were set that if they don't clearly see it, he's not getting the call.
I'm not sure if Matic's first yellow was deserved, so I'm not going to sit here and complain about the lack of a second yellow. And anyway, on another day a referee gives Ivanovic a penalty in the first half (it was a foul, but hopefully the reason why it wasn't given was because of Ivanovic's theatrics rather than both officials missing the incident - it would be good if officials decided against giving decisions to players who clearly add some theatrics in), and books Morgan for taking out Cesc in the second half.
Dean had a good game. Matic could have been sent off but it wasn't a should have been sent off so no complaints with that.
Overall we haven't done badly with refs this season. Haven't got a few 50:50 penalties, but have also escaped with the same.
To be honest I'm all behind refs keeping it 11v11 if at all possible. I think it should have been a second yellow, but you see it all the time that a second offence isn't booked. Have to disagree with the 50:50 refs. Poor decisions have cost us points against liverpool and a few others
Oh Tom, just for once, take your "I'm a ref" glasses off. You'd have given him a yellow every day of the week for that second one..... why do you think Jose took him off.... because he knew it was a booking and that he wouldn't get away with it again..
Ivanovic got on my nerves at St Mary's when he fell over every time the massive beast that is Matt Targett went anywhere near him. He is a bloody good footballer, but he needs to have a serious word with himself.
I guess that previous quoted statistic that Mane was the most fouled Player in the Premier hasn't altered much?
Well, perhaps. But if so I still think that was an okay outcome. I don't mind a little official discretion. I also believe in trying to keep 11 men on the field if possible. I think refs should call it mostly straight, but if there's a little flex to be given I don't mind pocketing the second yellow. Same thing with a foul near the end of the game. It's okay to call things a bit more tightly early on to keep the game under control, and then relax a little if players have been playing clean. In this case, the first yellow was also borderline-ish. If I look at the two fouls, and Matic's play overall... it just doesn't quite add up to a red card. I wouldn't argue that a red card would have been unjust, but I could go either way with it. So if the upshot is that if Mourinho knows Matic is getting his marching papers the next foul he gets, that forces a sub which is still a punishment. But to me seems more fair than being down 10 men. And then Schneiderlin gets a freebie for a tackle similar to Ivanovic's so it evens out. If that's how that went down, I think that's fine officiating.
Yeah, he's one of the worst divers in the Premier League. He did it to us, he does it everyone. OTOH, Targett actually did trip Fabregas in that December game and it could have been a penalty but Fabregas got booked for diving instead. So it evened out.
Well as a Saints fan, I wish he'd followed the law and sent him off.... one point may have become three.
