With Premier League football played at such an incredible tempo, the pressure on referees and their assistants is higher than it has ever been.
The beauty of the sport has always been the factor of human error – unless your team is on the wrong end of one of those contentious decisions.
Cue scrutiny for the man in the middle from fans, pundits and the national media.
What we often forget though, is that the officials only get one look at an incident – blink and you’ve missed it. So, should more be done to help Premier League referees on the pitch or are they simply just not up to standard?
I spoke with former referee Keith Hackett, Director at You Are the Ref, to get his verdict on the performance of referees over the weekend, with Andre Marriner and Jonathan Moss in the limelight after crucial decisions at the Etihad Stadium and the Emirates Stadium respectively.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was infuriated when Marriner failed to award a penalty after Raheem Sterling, clean through on goal, was pushed by Kyle Walker. To compound City’s misery, Tottenham went up the other end and scored a crucial equaliser 30 seconds later.
“We must remember that in excess of £10m is spent by the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) to select, train and enhance the performance of all the match officials that operate at the top level of the game,” said Hackett.
“An experienced official, like Andre Marriner, will develop an ability to read the game and the potential next phase of play. The importance of this is to ensure that proximity to play and the correct viewing angle is achieved to detect and apply any appropriate action.
“Through the aid of a Sports Scientist, referees are trained to be able to apply dynamic sprints in excess of seven metres per second to ensure contact with the game is maintained. Given that a forward is moving towards goal with an opportunity to shoot and a defender about to make a challenge, referees are trained to check and adjust their viewing angle to see if an offence is committed.
“Raheem Sterling was pushed in the back that affected his ability to make a clear shot on goal. The defender had committed a foul and the referee should have pointed to the penalty mark and dismissed Sterling’s opponent.
“The assistant and the referee are wearing communication kits so the experienced man carrying the flag, Andy Garratt, is reliable and, I know from personal experience, not afraid to make the big call. The outcome of the incorrect decision needs to be investigated by the PGMOL.
“Did Andre Marriner overrule any verbal communication advising him to point to the spot? It is my view that Andre came in too quick and made a call, not taking on board any advice from his colleagues. The refereeing team should get these big decisions correct.”
The game between Arsenal and Burnley saw talking points aplenty with a red card flourished and two late penalties – not to mention Gunners boss Arsene Wenger being ushered from the technical area.
Hackett called for the FA to throw the book at Wenger in his column for the Daily Telegraph, but whether the Frenchman receives any retrospective punishment remains to be seen.
“Jon Moss missed a penalty kick that should have been awarded to Arsenal on 51 minutes for foul on Shkodran Mustafi – this could have been the key to Wenger’s frustration,” admitted Hackett.
“But Moss was correct to dismiss Granit Xhaka for a reckless challenge with excessive force endangering the safety of an opponent. He was also correct to award Burnley a penalty kick for a trip.
“This clearly angered the Arsenal manager, resulting in his removal from the technical area for unreasonable behaviour. Wenger will no doubt face some stern disciplinary action for pushing the fourth official, Anthony Taylor, who was correctly requesting Wenger to leave the head of the tunnel.
“On the award of a penalty kick to Arsenal, I would have discussed this with the referee and his assistant. Ben Mee was guilty of dangerous play – the high boot making contact with Laurent Koscielny, but the Arsenal player was offside. So that was a big error at the end of the game.”
No decision in football is more crucial that the failure to award a goal when the ball has crossed the line. Take Frank Lampard against Germany at the 2010 World Cup, for example. Fortunately for Premier League officials, they have the benefit of goal line technology to ensure that these key decisions are not missed.
On 4 December 2016, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Artur Boruc were beneficiaries of the technology as Manchester United were awarded a goal at Goodison Park, while Bournemouth were millimetres from conceding a fourth goal at home to Liverpool in their thrilling 4-3 comeback.
In retrospect, should further technology be introduced to assist officials at the top level?
“I was instrumental in bringing goal Line technology to the Premier League who, during my time in office at the PGMOL, invested in Hawkeye to come up with the answers,” continued Hackett.
“The outcome is frankly superb and in Premier League games it takes away any guessing. It’s a pity we do not see many more leagues installing the system. I am a great believer in technology, the only reservation I have is its application.
“When the referee needs support to ensure an accurate decision what will the procedure be? How good will the video assistant referee be?
“The facts are that there were over 300 major game changing errors last season in the Premier League and there were more examples this weekend.
“On offside, I share Marco Van Basten’s view that the time has come for this law to change – it is too complicated to operate and I am seeing too many errors. I was frankly always amazed how brilliant some of our assistants have been with regard to the offside decisions.
“Darren Cann, Glenn Turner, Mike Mullarkey and Philip Sharpe were simply brilliant. When reviewing performances through video, I often used to ask myself ‘how do they do that?’ – errors were very rare from these guys.”
REFEREES IN THE SPOTLIGHT
My interview with former referee Keith Hackett to get his views on officials and modern technology
Article posted: 23 January 2017
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Jonathan Moss | 2016/17
70 yellow cards, 3 red cards
ON THE BEST PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE
“The best referee in the Premier League, Europe and around the world is Mark Clattenburg who recently was acclaimed as the number one referee in the world.”
ON MIKE DEAN
“Mike Dean is an excellent referee although I would like him to curb his sometimes flamboyant actions on the field of play. His decision making is usually top drawer but recently he hit a poor patch, delivering two big errors in consecutive games. It is so unlike him.”
ON UEFA
“I am not in favour of the use of fourth and fifth officials. Whilst you get no visual signals from them, I assure you that they do verbally communicate to the referee through their communication kits if a penalty kick should be awarded.”
Andre Marriner | 2016/17
55 yellow cards, 1 red card
Unfortunately for our officials, they are often conned by a minority of players who cheat in order to gain an unfair advantage. Refereeing a Premier League match must be one of the hardest, and unenviable, jobs in the world: you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.
Can anything be done to ensure that cheating – in particular diving – is eradicated from football?
“Simulation is the curse of the modern game and something that infuriates everyone,” said Hackett. “The answer to reduce this problem is retrospective action by the Football Association; let's punish the serial offenders by using video to take a closer look at the actions of the players who are prepared to cheat.
“The role of the PGMOL is, in my opinion, to be open and transparent. When I was in office I would visit managers and clubs to discuss the role of the referee. I even addressed spectator groups in order to make them aware how difficult officiating has become.
“There are 22 cameras at games and, at the press of a button, the exposure and accuracy of a referee’s decision can be examined and errors defined.”
I would like to thank Keith for taking the time to do this interview. To read more of Keith’s views, please visit You Are the Ref.