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The referee thread: discuss referees and their decisions

The criteria is indeed all over the place for those handball incidents.

Atkinson didn't give a penalty for a Kanté handball that was much clearer.

There was the ludicrous Simpson sending off - although the real problem there was his first yellow which was very harsh. The 2nd one any player could have gotten - one must be really naïve to pull an opponent by the shirt minutes after going into the book?

Later on, Atkinson indeed chickened out, maybe feeling a need to compensate for a harsh sending off. Either way, a player who does this (below) cannot stay on the pitch:

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Agree on Drinkwater's tackle. Clear red, though he does slip in the old 'not that type of player defence'. Still a red.

Giroud to ground like bambi on ice for Simpson's second. Couldn't wait to hit the deck. I'm sorry, but a 200lbs 'athlete' like Giroud doesn't fall down becasue of a slight pull on his arm - one that was quite ably holding off Simpson a mere second before.

And Atkinson bought it hook line and sinker. Every single time Giroud backs into someone he's holding their shorts or their jersey. Every single time Giroud is in the box he will be pushing and shoving. It's what football is.

But Atkinson rewards who hit the ground faster. And fair play to Giroud, that was quicker than he ever moves towards the ball.
 
Well I guess I'm in the minority then. I know the penalty rule is a bit vague, but Sterling jumped carelessly with his arm sticking out. All players should be more careful imo. A good number of players are and they make sure they keep their arms closer to their bodies.

Regardless though, City were utter crap, especially Aguero, and they never deserved a win :SMUG:
 
That's like saying because a ST makes a loose touch the defender is allowed to steam into him, break his leg and get away with it. No foul and no card, the ST was careless!

Unless Sterling has an extra pair of arms in his ribcage, where his arms are is irrelevant anyway. The ball has to actually hit the arm!
 
Good example of the modern game in the Arsenal match. Alba feigns injury to his face, goes to ground. Jumps up, tries (and fails) to head butt Giroud (gently).

If that's a Barcelona player, they go to ground, and the most card f*cking happy ref in the world Cakir sends them off.

Instead, Giroud kind of looks bemused, and it's not even a foul.
 
yeah thats the funny thing other way around giroud would have been sent off for sure and btw he has been sent off a couple of times just for that in the past
 
That was a very poor first half by that Turkish ref, blowing the whistle for anything and even when Giroud was shielding the ball against Pique he awarded fouls for nothing!

It seems as though he got a serious bollocking for the 2nd half, because he let them play on much more fluidly after the break.

The Alba thing was ridiculous indeed. If Giroud was Busquets that would've turned into an 11 against 10 match, but he kept it cool and thank goodness the ref managed not to spoil the match.
 
Will never forgive Cakir for the ridiculous Nani decision, ruining Fergie's last European match. One of the worst red card decisions I've ever seen. Literally no one thought it was a red, not even Sergio Ramos. And when he's not begging for a red, you know the deal.

Interesting that Wenger called out Barca players after the match for 'screaming whenever touched'. I noticed that too. I think Suarez has had some influence there, having seen him live you see that anytime he believes he's been fouled (which every time he's ever been challenged, ever) he screams like a banshee. All the Barca players do it now, Alves in particular.

It's smart, even on the subconcious level it draws attention and makes the ref live's harder.

I love watching Barcelona play football, but they really are the masters of all of continental football - including the dark arts.
 
I only saw the first half (a very poor first half), and IMO Cakir was by far the best man on the pitch.
Perhaps he was very bad in the second....

It also always seems, that if Arsenal loose, others are to blame...Always.
Arsenal have a good team, but English teams are second rate in Europe.

They are far behind the really big teams like Barcelona, Bayern, PSG and Real Madrid.
 
That ref should be restricted to officiating the Turkish league. It feels a different sport at times! He literally whistled for a foul on 3 or 4 occasions where Giroud didn't do anything except win an aerial challenge.

There's no such thing as "throwing your weight around", as the English say, in continental football. English teams do suffer with this "cultural shock" when they play CL football. It feels like another sport.

Having said that, no one is saying Arsenal lost because of the referee. We're just pointing out how this is one hell of a weak-ass referee.

I'm just glad he didn't spoil the match with a nonsense sending off. This time around it'd be nice to see no bullshit such as that Van Persie sending off at the Camp Nou years ago. I don't even have hopes that Arsenal will progress, I just want to see a good and fair game of football FFS!

PS: As for Daniel Alves, he is a well known douche. Everyone even in Brasil knows that. He even yelled "f*ck you maaan" at Özil :LOL: just because he'd been called out on his cheating.
As for the other Brazilian, Neymar, I have to say this: despite all his obvious talent, he is a Class AAA+++ cheat, who totally alienates me from any sense of patriotism or association with him, and it completely takes away my will to support the Brazil NT. It's a freaking dive fest and I just hang my head in shame.
 
Good stuff by the ref in our match tonight. Booked Lingard for a dive when he was clearly fouled in the box, not only no penalty, but misses next match.

Ref is supposedly 'sure' it's a dive to book, plus ref 6 feet away on the touchline..and it wasn't a dive.
 
This is a warning to all football fans.
I've always been very protective about refs, imo they have the toughest job in football.

But

There are limits.

My friends, if your club has Northern Irish referee Arnold Hunter officiating a match, you can only do one thing: pray to the football gods that he becomes sick before the match.

Yesterday i watched Olympiakos-Anderlecht and i saw the worst refereeing ever. Before i continue: Anderlecht progresses to the next round (and i'm not even a fan of Anderlecht i don't like them) and rarely i've been this happy for a Belgian club.

In the first half Olymiakos player Botia fouled Acheampong who was through on goal. He gave a foul for Olympiakos.

He gave Olympiakos a penalty for a ball that was nowhere near a hand.

In the second half the same Botia made a vicious and dangerous foul on Anderlecht player Djuricic who was through on goal. He gave a free kick, and a yellow card to Botia.

At the end of the first half, he gives corner to Anderlecht and when it is kicked, he immediately whistles for the end of the first half.
He does the same after 90 minutes, but now for Olympaikos.

And then after 70 minutes, mister Hunter decided that the Greeks had had their chances and he decided to change his bias and saw everything the Anderlecht way...

Den Doncker fould Botia (him again) in the box, but no penalty was given to Olympiakos.

Yesterday i have seen something historic. The worst ref ever, forget about Byron Moreno.

Remember the name: mister Arnold Hunter. He is extraordinary.

Moreno was corrupt, Hunter isn't, he is totally incompetent...never seen anything like this...

Anderlecht fans went in to his Wikipedia page and changed it (unfortunately in Dutch). "Norman Hunter is a blind Northern Irish referee".
 
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He wasn't even biased. The most incompetent ref i've ever seen. This Guy should stop at once.
 
Must be...maybe on YouTube???
It was all over Belgian channels and everybody agrees that this was very, very bad...poor bugger will have officiatd his first and last European match...
 
Yea, just a professional foul (yellow). He slid but only to trip, not to go through from behind
 
Any professional in today's game goes down there. There's contact on his back ankle, so he hurls himself down. Love the scream that went with it, and the utter collapse of the other leg. He's a 6'2" 200lbs 'athlete', but a little nick on his back heel will cause him immeasurable pain.

Hate the game, not the player. Just doing what his manager would expect.
 
Unfortunately yes, managers will expect him to do it and he'd probably get a bollocking had he not done it. Maybe not Klopp, but from many managers.

It fits into that narrative recently revisited by Tim Sherwood: "he had the right to hit the deck for a penalty" just because the player left a foot sticking out in their way. I'm guessing defenders don't have a right to try and nick a ball or even stand in the way of attacking opposition.

If things carry on like that soon enough all defenders will just run around with both arms behind their backs, just jocking and rounding up opposition players without attempting tackles.
 
They need to change the rules on penalties. There should be 1 for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity, and one for 'no danger' fouls in the penalty area.

Because a vigorous sneeze is now considered a foul, so many matches are determined by penalties. It's ridiculous imo. Especially cases like the Lukaku one, where maybe a little toe was in the box/over the line.

I hate all this screaming now. Noticing it more and more, must be coached into the players.
 
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