Referee Craig Pawson didn’t have a cracker at Hull v. Tottenham today. I thought he was quite inconsistent, letting things go and then calling the same thing two plays later. The players were rightly frustrated with him. But I have to say, I think he got the Gaston Ramirez red card right. Basically, Ramirez was covering Big Jan Vertonghen (who is, admittedly,
Read more
Update: Here’s the excellent response about Benteke’s red card by Villa’s manager, Paul Lambert. Usual disclaimer: I am not only a referee supporter, but a Tottenham supporter. Let me start out by saying I hated seeing Christian Benteke sent off in the Villa v. Tottenham match. He was playing like a boss, and I honestly don’t think Spurs would have
Read more
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
Read more
Well, that didn’t take long. Chris Foy dished out the first red card of the Premier League season right at the thirty minute mark of the West Ham v. Tottenham match, when he sent off Kyle Naughton for a handball in the box. The call itself was pretty straightforward: Naughton was swinging his arms above his head, seemed to make
Read more
Tottenham have been successful in their appeal of Younes Kaboul’s three-game suspension following his red card in Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Chelsea. Referee Michael Oliver had adjudged Kaboul to have tripped Samuel Eto’o in the box, denying him a goalscoring opportunity. However, replays showed that not only was there very little contact, but Eto’o was not in control of the
Read more
Dear me, Michael Oliver. Dear me. Now, let me say that I watched this game at a local pub with friends. (Why, yes, we were drinking at 9:30am California time. And?) And Tottenham were absolutely wretched in the second half, even before the red card. Jan Vertonghen’s slipping on the pitch then recovering by basically passing the ball to Chelsea’s
Read more
I’m a little late to the party on this, but several people have asked me what I thought of the red card in the Tottenham v. Dnipro wonder match in Europa League on Thursday. The basics: Roman Zozulya (who had scored earlier to put Dnipro up 2-0 on aggregate) finally had enough of Big Jan Vertonghen literally walking all over
Read more
The FA overturned Danny Rose’s red card from Wednesday’s match with Manchester City. Rose was sent off in the 50th minute by referee Andre Marriner after what replays showed was a clean tackle on Edin Dzeko. Marriner appeared to signal for a corner, before having his mind changed by linesman Scott Ledger. Marriner then awarded City a penalty kick and
Read more
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 