Horrible game by the refs! My views

Mike Jones, the referee for the Newcastle Everton game yesterday, had an absolutely horrible game together with his team of officials!

On the day, Mike Jones was acceptable on the small decisions, but was atrocious when making the big decisions!!!!

Multiple incidents marred this game in my opinion and I'd like to share my thoughts as follows:

1. Phil Neville - ON a yellow, Everton committed forward and a clearance found Jonas with room to break early in the second half. Phil Neville pulled Jonas down unceremoniously and on a card-happy day, what does the ref do? He chooses to keep his cards in his pocket!!!!!!!!!! How inconsistent is that?! WTF!
6min-Neville is booked
30min-Anita
37min-Perch

In the 59min, against the run of play, the referee refused to commit to a decision to give Neville a second yellow, for a challenge that was WORSE than Jonas's yellow, and as bad as Neville's first yellow! IF you guys remember, Jonas got a BLOODY SOFT yellow for nothing and Neville gets away with that foul on Jonas? Does he have half a thought on the home crowd while making that decision not to give a card? Horrible decision.

2. Fellaini's offside goal
About this, I think the linesman has been given an unfair amount of grief here... Look, most offside decisions are generally made when the defensive line is static and not moving, and then an attacker makes a run as the pass is made and the linesman can decide for himself if the attacker made the run without being offside. However on this particular situation, Saylor was moving FORWARD(a la an offside trap), whereas Fellaini is moving in the opposite direction. Can the human eye determine instantaneously a)the moment the pass is threaded through b)the position at that point where Saylor is c)Fellaini's position at that point? All these, while Saylor moves to the LEFT, Fellaini moves to the RIGHT and the ball moves through a crowd of defenders? This call is 50/50, and is amongst the hardest decisions to make, so can't really blame the linesman here.

3. The Anichebe headed goal
This is a bit of a complicated one. So what actually happened was that the entire ball DID cross the line, but so happened that Willo cleared it in time that a decision had to be made by the officials and Newcastle were lucky, that it wasn't given. Given that the ref may have wanted to defer to the linesman, he might have been right to err on the side of caution. As for why the linesman didn't see the ball crossing the net, here's my take on it. If you guys saw the replay with the Instant Snapshot of the ball over the line, and then the replay continues, take a look at Anichebe. After Anichebe heads the ball, the ball hits Harps and onto the crossbar and comes down. As it goes over the line, what is the position of Anichebe? He is AT the near post. So from the linesman's point of view, what do you see? You see Anichebe, then the near post, then Willo and the ball at THAT instant. As for Willo, I have to commend him for wearing Black and White boots, the same colour as the ball which probably camouflaged the ball more than we think. AFTER that instant, Anichebe's momentum moves him further forward and the linesman now has a clear vision path to the goalmouth... And now he sees the ball pushed forward by Willo, and probably near Cisse who boots it away! So the linesman had NO clear view of the ball entering the net. Can we blame him? Guess not, and the ref has to defer to the linesman, so not him either...

4. The Advantage Rule
Does THIS BLOODY REF KNOW WHAT IS ADVANTAGE? Really? It was definitely MORE THAN ONCE that the ref called the play back because he didn't give advantage. Well that's just lazy refereeing IMO. The Ben Arfa decision really was what made me livid. What in the world was there about that decision that made the ref overrule a 3-on-1 break to call the play back is beyond me. Absolutely Terrible decision by the ref and he has no excuse for this. This is going back to the 80s and beyond(no disrespect) where the rules are too rigid and as a result were changed(for the better, I'm sure).

5. Throw-in Rule
At first, I was again, angry at the ref for calling Demba Ba back as the Everton player tried to take a throw and Ba stood right in front of him. I do recall, of all people, Alan Shearer standing at throw-in takers(must've been against Fat Sham's Bolton) and there was nothing to stop that. By right assuming the rule DID change then I have nothing against the ref for this. I went to google up on the throw-in rule and FIFA states that there should be 2m away from the thrower. Not sure when this change was made as I remember various teams doing what Ba did with no infringements..

Now, being fair, Everton did deserve to have those 2 goals allowed, but I just feel that the ref made a string of erroneous decisions and the notion of him calling back the Ben Arfa break to even things out shouldn't even be entertained.(Two negatives doesn't equal a positive)



On a sidenote, I discovered the Flip Throw-in. It was, surprisingly a specialty of Steve Watson of Newcastle. Not sure why it isn't used anymore as it is legal.

[video=youtube;k_EN-gG67Ec]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_EN-gG67Ec[/video]

 

I think overall your right..

I think they should use all technology available now aswell as every game I see one of the officials makes a monumental howler even If Its a non throw In free kick etc etc they wont have to stop the game as such with replays available almost immediately they can see in 2-3 secs what the correct decision is...

I think all teams would benefit from It In the end as the standard of refs linesmen etc Is shocking..

 

there is no advantage 'rule' (law) as you say it, it is solely at the descretion of the ref, if he wants to be a nob and blow up then so be it (unfortunately)

the 2 metre from the throw in has been in for years now
but... what happens when our player stands still and the thrower moves forward 2 metres

 

Probably 2 metres around the throw-in point... if the thrower moves towards the player, then can't blame the player.

Advantage
allows play to continue when the team against which an offence has been
committed will benefit from such an advantage and penalises the original
offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time

The referee should consider the following circumstances in deciding whether to
apply the advantage or stop play:
• the severity of the offence: if the infringement warrants an expulsion, the
referee must stop play and send off the player unless there is a subsequent
opportunity to score a goal
• the position where the offence was committed: the closer to the
opponent’s goal, the more effective it can be
• the chances of an immediate, promising attack
• the atmosphere of the match

If the offence warrants a caution, it must be issued at the next stoppage.
However, unless there is a clear advantage, it is recommended that the referee
stops play and cautions the player immediately. If the caution is NOT issued at
the next stoppage, it cannot be shown later.

There was an obvious clear advantage. The ref seems to have gone against FIFA rules on these incidents... Poor Poor game by the ref truly..

 

Fellaini was offside. Don't look at Sky's line which takes the measurement from Taylor's heel and Fellaini's toe - look at where Fellaini's bouffant afro is at the time, he's offside. If a part of a player that can touch the ball is ahead of the last defender, then it's offside. He was offside, no goal.

Anichebe's wasn't a goal, because it wasn't a freekick. Everton should have been down to 9 men, we should have been given the 3 on 1 advantage. Everton's only complain can be against their own profligacy in front of goal in the first half. But, that said, Cisse shouldn't be missing from that chance. All in all, draw just about fair. Certainly not the "robbery" that Everton claim happened.

 

What do you mean by 9 men. I know Neville, the other? Is it ?

 

a fair series of points you make there.