My statement was a 'Prickly' response to what you had said.At the end of the day I'm not overly bothered or upset by any severe criticism - Rhino hide and all that !

Regards the referee yesterday, I didn't witness the whole game so I really cannot comment on his overall performance. Certainly he got it right over the penalty for the foul on Zaha and IF he had awarded a penalty for the challenge on Benteke there might not have been too many complaints but I re-iterate he probably thought contact was made with the ball prior to Benteke going to ground and replays have suggested there was contact, albeit minimal - a question of did the player go through an opponent before making contact with the ball or was there contact with the player before the ball was played. Very fine margins in a fast moving scenario.

Hogwash and balderdash!!! Even when a ref makes such a horrendous error as yesterday you still try and justify it rather than admit that he made a MISTAKE....maybe if you did occasionally admit such errors people would take on board some of the other things you post

Genuine question! Do you think he erred in giving the penalty?
Edited by the silurian (11 Dec 2016 11.36am)

Edited by the silurian (11 Dec 2016 11.37am)

You've already done that pal!
Was it a mistake giving the penalty, given that NO contact was made...will he forensically assessed and sent to specsavers on Monday morning?

Edited by the silurian (11 Dec 2016 11.39am)

I'm not surprised that the "usual suspect" has predictably given reasons why the referee gave the penalty for Snodgrass and not Benteke.

For the benefit of everyone else who has commented I agree with you all.

The referee was handily placed to make the right call for both situations.

Snodgrass admitted on Twitter after the game that he had dived FFS.

No further comment is necessary.

Until football introduces a forth official to examine instant replays at critical junctures during matches as they do in both codes of rugby and other sports.
Events like yesterday and others will continue to increase. It's all down to the speed of the game and pressures of money!

Citations and retrospective punishment wouldn't change decisions on the field of play nor the results of a match. If Snodgrass still chose to dive to give his club an advantage and the penalty was given he would then have to take the punishment, his club would back him as did Phelan with that pathetic interview about the incident.

Situations like yesterday change matches as Snodgrass was already on a yellow card and would surely have got another one and been sent off. That was not mentioned on MOD last night.

With a fourth official-Other events on the field of play and in the penalty box could have been reviewed quickly and proper decisions made to help referees who obviously find it increasingly difficult to make that split second real time call even though they are wired up to their assistants!

Willo you are right football is played in real time however it has got a little faster since your day, the antics and attitudes of many players have changed dramatically (and not all for the best), however in an awful lot of cases the quality of top football match officiating is at times lamentable!

Football has got MUCH faster than in my day.

Players,especially at the top-level are super fit and are real athletes. It is impossible for a referee to be near every single incident with the players and the ball travelling at such break-neck and can only give what he sees which of course is determined by angles and sight-lines. You mentioned "Assistants" - of course they are all wired-up and communicate with the referee but sometimes they don't have the best view either.

Do referees make mistakes ? Of course they do, I wouldn't expect anything different.

Edited by Willo (11 Dec 2016 11.57am)