Yeah, so…if you were thinking to yourself: “Exactly how would I go about getting a red card in a Premier League game…?” This would be it. Two-footed, studs up, coming in high…it doesn’t get more clear cut as that, and referee Craig Pawson doesn’t exactly hand out red cards like candy (this was his first). Even Jose Mourinho can’t complain about
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I’m a big supporter of the referees and of Michael Oliver in particular. You guys know that. I’m also a supporter of Tottenham, so I was over the moon when Nacer Chadli managed to score against Arsenal at the Emirates today. (Though, Tottenham being Tottenham, that joy was short-lived.) But I have to say I was absolutely stunned at the
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Let’s talk about something besides Mark Clattenburg and Manchester United, shall we? There are two big derbies this week: Liverpool v. Everton and Arsenal v. Spurs. (Though, let’s face it, the way my poor Spurs are playing right now, the North London derby may not be much of a contest…) Two of England’s top three FIFA-rated referees will be in action
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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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There is no doubt that a single call or a single moment can often change the momentum of the game. But let’s be clear when talking about Manchester United’s 5-3 shock defeat to Leicester: That is not what happened here. To be very clear, United came out of halftime with a 2-1 lead. At 56, Manchester United scored again. They
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There’s a lot of buzz about this supposed Jack Wilshere handball in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City Saturday. Manuel Pellegrini thinks it should have been a penalty; referee Mark Clattenburg did not. Let’s be clear: This issue is not why Manchester City did not win this match, despite what Pellegrini wants you to believe. The two Arsenal goals happened
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Matchweek 4 starts off with a big one: Arsenal v. Manchester City. England’s new Big Man, Mark Clattenburg (who has quite the following amongst the ladies, if my email is any indication), will be in the center for that one, along with ARs Simon Beck and Jake Collin. England’s two other top referees, Michael Oliver and Martin Atkinson, are at
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Poor old Jon Moss. He’s not the strongest referee in the league, but he didn’t deserve this. Not only was he run ragged trying to keep up with Everton and Chelsea’s nine-goal marathon (ending 6-3 in Chelsea’s favour), but his assistant referees let him down something awful. This definitely was the worst refereeing team performance we’ve seen yet this season
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Light week this week, and we’re seeing a couple of new referee faces. Or, at least, new to this season’s matches. It’s great to see Phil Dowd (above) in action again, and with a big one, too: Tottenham v. Liverpool. Dude’s what? 51? He’s the poster boy for eliminating refereeing age limits. (There are rumors that even FIFA plans to do away with
Read moreI wanted to talk a minute about a situation that is making it very hard to bring this blog to you: The difficulty in obtaining video. Look, I’m not a big journalist. I don’t get paid to do this. I’m just a blogger; a fan with another perspective on a sport we all love. I like to think that my
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 