Is There Title Pressure On Referees ??...

[Krule]

With the current title race going right to the wire do you think that the referees are in any way influenced by such situations ?

Would last minute penalty appeals by lowly clubs against either City or Liverpool be viewed and handled differently because of the massive effect it could have ?

Surely it must be in the back of their minds as they reach (or rather don't reach) for that whistle ?

 

[Dundalk_Spur]

Morning, someone else can't sleep huh lol.

Just look at our game against City. Walkers clear hand ball. Oliver was never going to give it or any other decision to negatively affect the title race.

On the whole they are a bunch of mentally weak tossers.

 

[Deggsy56]

Morning, someone else can't sleep huh lol.

Just look at our game against City. Walkers clear hand ball. Oliver was never going to give it or any other decision to negatively affect the title race.

On the whole they are a bunch of mentally weak tossers.

Morning normal update for work !
I wouldn't mind but replays show ref stood behind walker. Must've seen him handle ball. Can't give that favour city!

 

[spurs mental]

Look at the Salah penalty last week. Ok, Morrison has his hands around him but there's no way it was enough to make Salah go down like he was shot.

The referees are weak. Oliver is supposed to be the Premier League's best but he's the weakest of them all. Doesn't seem to get any big moments right.

 

[Insomnia]

All the Ref's in England are shite, especially when you compare them to the likes of the Dutch Ref we had away to Dortmund & the Turkish (I think) Ref we had in the 2nd leg vs Citey. We've got the best League in the world so I think we should fly these top ref's over to ref our big matches myself. Won't happen though.

 

['O Zio]

Definitely plays a role. I'm not saying the refs will deliberately try and be biased,but it must play on your mind if, say if Salah goes down in the box and Liverpool need to win otherwise the title is gone. I remember listening to a podcast where they were interviewing some ref, I think it was Howard Webb, and he basically admitted that in those split second decisions where you've got to make the decision the thought that if you don't give the decision e.g. Burnley's way, there'll be 20k people in Burnley who are annoyed, but if you don't give a decision Man Utd's way, there are millions of people around the world who will be annoyed so it skews your thinking. Especially because if you give a wrong decision against Burnley, it might get discussed on MOTD that night but that'll be the end of it, whereas if you give a wrong decision against Utd/Liverpool etc. then it'll get replayed and discussed all season long, and even more if it affected the title race or top 4 finish etc.

Like I say, despite popular belief, I don't think there are any refs in the PL who are actively going into games with a deliberate idea that they're going to favour one team over the other, but it's just human nature to be affected by the things I've described above. To think it plays no role whatsoever would just be naive. I think that's another potential benefit to VAR i.e. the people making the calls are anonymous and so less likely to be affected by that sort of thing as the guy who's out there on his own in the middle of the pitch with the eyes of the world on him, so to speak

 

[stevenurse]

The frustrating thing with Salah is he's clearly been coached to win the penalties you don't get if you stay on your feet. He's an absolute prick and a cheat when he legitimately dives, but for the most part he uses the 'contact' stipulation to its fullest. The Cardiff one was a penalty, its just that a lot of others players wouldn't flop like he did, and probably wouldn't get a penalty. Its a shame but that's how it is.

As for refs, it can't not affect them. Especially now, one wrong decision can ruin 9 months worth of work and could potentially ruin your career. It's going to be the most stressful run in for them ever.

 

[Marty]

Carl Anka on the Totally Football Show (a very outspoken United fan) sort of defended Salah in yesterday's podcast, saying that he's not a diver, he's just a bad faller, as in even when he's legitimately fouled he falls in a way that looks very silly and that that leads people to believe he dives. Not sure I fully buy that, but I can see his point.

To answer the titular question, undoubtedly yes.

 

[Krule]

It would be tragic if a team was to win the title simply because the ref didn't have the balls to make the right call and correctly award someone (like Huddersfield tonight) a legitimate last minute penalty.
A seasons effort and hard work resting on one guy's ego.

On the other hand I can think of quite a few referee's who would love to enhance their reputation and be remembered as the one who won/lost the title by making a questionable decision. (Who said Mike Dean then ???)

 

[jamesinashby]

With the current title race going right to the wire do you think that the referees are in any way influenced by such situations ?

Would last minute penalty appeals by lowly clubs against either City or Liverpool be viewed and handled differently because of the massive effect it could have ?

Surely it must be in the back of their minds as they reach (or rather don't reach) for that whistle ?

I've watched some two dozen of Liverpool's games and terrible referee and linesmen decisions have resulted in them being gifted points. I doubt they are accepting bribes and put it down to nerves on the part of the officials. Liverpool are, in my opinion, the next best team to City but nowhere near as close to them as the table suggests.

COYS

 

[Japhet]

IMO the definition of 'simulation' needs to be clarified. As I've said in a previous thread, the Salah v Cardiff incident was both a penalty and a dive. In that case I'd like to see retrospective action taken against Salah for what was quite obviously simulation. It annoys me when people say 'if the player doesn't go over the Ref won't give the penalty' because it condones cheating, plain and simple. Hopefully VAR will cut a lot of it out though.

 

['O Zio]

IMO the definition of 'simulation' needs to be clarified. As I've said in a previous thread, the Salah v Cardiff incident was both a penalty and a dive. In that case I'd like to see retrospective action taken against Salah for what was quite obviously simulation. It annoys me when people say 'if the player doesn't go over the Ref won't give the penalty' because it condones cheating, plain and simple. Hopefully VAR will cut a lot of it out though.

I think you're right. The way I see it, you've got 2 different situations:

1. When a player goes down even though there was zero contact, or when a player pretends something has happened that didn't e.g. when someone touches their shoulder and they go down acting like they've been hit in the face
2. When a player is genuinely fouled but exaggerates the contact to make sure they get the decision

I think situation 1 everyone is in agreement needs to be cut out by VAR.

Situation 2 I think most people want them to clamp down on. However, that can't happen in isolation. It's absolutely essential that if they do that, that refs start giving fouls even when the player stays on their feet. The way referees currently ref the game means that unless a player goes down, they virtually never get the decision. If you're going to punish players for "making sure the ref sees it" then you've got to simultaneously remove the need for them to do that in the first place i.e. the refs have to see it/make the decision without the player needing to go down.