Listen. Diego Costa is an ass, and he’s always going to be bad mouthing someone and starting fights. He just seems like a jerk. But Pablo Zabaleta has been around long enough to know better. Zabaleta was skating on thin ice, anyway. Referee Mike Dean had spent the first half of the game handing out yellow cards like it was
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Oh, vanishing spray…you so crazy! You know, this stuff worked pretty well at the World Cup. Everyone seemed to like it, encroaching went down to basically nil, and no one got sprayed in the face (though I’m sure the referees would have liked to spray a few guys in the face). Cue the Premier League referees. Poor old vanishing spray
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Poor Mike Dean. What a day he had at Stamford Bridge. First there was Ramires punching Seb Larsson in the face (which Dean actually missed, but has no doubt seen by now) and then this. Cesar Azpilicueta did his best, but got outfoxed by Jozy Altidore in the box. Dean correctly called the penalty, which Liverpool loanee Fabio Borini stepped
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Ramires is a dirty player. I get that. He’s got a temper on him, as well. (See: Mark Clattenburg.) I sort of get that, too. But you can not hit a player in the face. Not even Sebastian Larsson, whom I realize is kind of a c—. You just can’t. There’s no reason in the world you can give me to excuse why
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NOTE: This refers to an appointment in the past. See the sidebar for updated appointments. Well, no doubt, this weekend’s Big Match is Liverpool v. Manchester City. With four points dividing them, and City still with two games in hand on both Liverpool and Chelsea, this match could decide the title, pardon the hyperbole. And when you think hyperbole, you
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Always check “Latest Appointments” on the sidebar for updated referee appointments. Here are the referees for the upcoming fixtures in Championship. The top-flight referees are in blue. Saturday, March 22 Barnsley v AFC Bournemouth SCOTT MATHIESON Ian Dudley and Tom Nield Fourth Official Alan Clayton Birmingham City v Reading DEAN WHITESTONE David Avent and Joe Hull Fourth Official Geoffrey Russell Blackburn
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The big game this week is Manchester City v. Chelsea. Mike Dean will officiate that one. He’s near the top of the charts on yellow cards, and only Andre Marriner and Martin Atkinson have handed out more red cards. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles these two teams of prima donnas footballers. Elsewhere, Phil Dowd is managing the Anti-Mark
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