i found it interesting that webb was a little bit lower than average for making calls, especially late calls but was really really low for giving a pen where it would affect the result of a game. In short.. 3-0 up dive. early in game dive... late in game or its 0-0 or 1-0 you need to be decapitated to get anything. thats exactly what i thought of webb. he'll blow up dives everywhere but in the box. he loves frees for defenders falling over. cool... its proved.
The problem, you see, is that although we know how many decisions Webb made, we don't know how many decisions he could have made, but didn't. So for the purposes of comparison, we decided to see how Webb stacks up against his Premier League peers over the same period. We decided to look at a number of hypothetical situations where a referee might be tempted to shirk a decision. 1) Penalties against the home side Initially we decided to break down Webb's penalties by whether he gave them to the home or away team. Clearly, given the influence of the crowd, it's braver to award a penalty to the visitors than it is to the home side. But then home teams generally perform better, so you would expect them to win more penalties. Here's how Webb compares to all Premier League referees over the last four seasons. We've excluded one penalty that Webb gave to Brazil against Scotland at the Emirates, which technically counts as a neutral game. Penalties given to: Webb All PL refs Home side 65.2% (15/23) 60.2% (203/337) Away side 34.8% (8/23) 39.8% (134/337) 2) Late penalty Next, let's consider when Webb gives his penalties. Across the Premier League as a whole, more than twice as many penalties are given in the last 15 minutes as in the first 15 minutes. Most people would agree that it is bolder to give a penalty late in a match, given its potential to alter the result. Penalties given in: Webb All PL refs 0-15 min 12.5% (3) 11.2% 16-30 min 12.5% (3) 14.8% 31-45 min 16.7% (4) 17.7% 46-60 min 12.5% (3) 13.6% 61-75 min 29.2% (7) 18.8% 76-90 min 16.7% (4) 23.9% So Webb is a lot less likely to give a penalty in the last 15 minutes than the average Premier League referee. Still, this is a small sample size, and the big spike in Webb penalties between 61 and 75 minutes means that the data is inconclusive at best. So let's consider another factor: the score in the game. Giving a penalty in the last minute when the score is 0-0 is a quite different proposition to when the score is 4-0. 3) Late game-changing penalty We took all penalties given in the last half-hour of matches and split them into two categories: Crucial and Non-Crucial. We defined a crucial penalty as a penalty that had the potential to change the result of a match. So if a side gets a penatly when they're 1-0 down, that's crucial. If they're 1-0 up when they get the penalty, it's not crucial. First we looked at all penalties given after the 60th minute in the Premier League over the last four seasons. This is how they split. Crucial Not crucial 53.9% (83/154) 46.1% (71/154) Over the same period, Webb has given 11 penalties in the last half-hour. This is how they split. Crucial Not crucial 9.1% (1/11) 90.9% (10/11)
i did say self serving hometown ref. no bias to anyone club IMO, just that he is home town... for me we should demand he ref's lfc home games only...
I wouldn't say home team, he's just weak in general. Mostly the home team apply the most pressure, but not always. He always makes the weakest decision (so Fergie used to get decisions away from home).
that is fair but my initial thought before i saw that article was he just went for home teams. I would say just don't look for pens and he's a favorable ref to have at home.. you can take liberties kicking lads and not get a card.. here's the thing... I don't think he's reffed many merseyside derbies over the years. that last one was at anfield and we won. (i think)... i think he gets to pick his matches too. never gets a game where it'll need hard tough reffing.
