Untold Ref Review: Manchester United 2 – 1 Liverpool « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
Today’s referee is Phil Dowd – To shake or not to shake that was the question before, during and after the game. But let us over here move our attention to the man in the middle of it.
| MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Phil Dowd (2012-02-11) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | ||||||
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | Weight |
| 1 | OTHER | Suarez | Ferdinand | NC | Push not given | 1 |
| 5 | OTHER | Enrique | Valencia | C | pulled the shirt | 1 |
| 8 | OTHER | Enrique | Rafael | NC | Push not given | 1 |
| 9 | OTHER | Evra | Kuyt | C | Trip | 1 |
| 12 | OTHER | Henderson | Valencia | C | Trip | 1 |
| 13 | OTHER | Evans | Suarez | C | High foot | 1 |
| 13 | OTHER | C | Ref has a word with Evans to calm down | 2 | ||
| 19 | OTHER | Rafael | Suarez | NC | trip not given | 1 |
| 26 | OTHER | Gerrard | Rafael | C | push in the face | 1 |
| 28 | OFFSIDE | Liverpool | C | assumed correct | 1 | |
| 32 | OTHER | Scholes | Henderson? | NC | Dangerous play not given | 1 |
| 33 | OTHER | Rooney | Spearing | C | Knee in the neck | 1 |
| 33 | OTHER | Kuyt | Carrick | C | trip | 1 |
| 39 | OTHER | Agger | Rooney | C | Nothing wrong with that and the ref gives nothing | 1 |
| 42 | OTHER | NC | A shot deflects in corner but goal kick given for Utd | 1 | ||
| 43 | OTHER | Valencia | Spearing | C | Jumped in the man | 1 |
| 44 | OTHER | Downing | Rafael | C | Late tackle | 1 |
| 44 | YELLOW | Downing | C | Took the man out | 2 | |
| 45 | OTHER | Ferdinand | Suarez | C | Ferdinand touched the ball away and then the foot of Suarez and the knee of Ferdinand made contact unintentional | 1 |
| Period 2 | ||||||
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | Weight |
| 47 | GOAL | Utd | C | correct goal | 3 | |
| 49 | OFFSIDE | Liverpool | C | assumed correct | 1 | |
| 50 | GOAL | Utd | C | correct goal | 3 | |
| 54 | OTHER | Valencia | Enrique | C | push | 1 |
| 55 | OTHER | Carrick | Suarez | C | Trip | 1 |
| 56 | OTHER | Skrtel | Rooney | C | Trip | 1 |
| 58 | OTHER | Evans | Spearing | C | Frontal tackle | 1 |
| 58 | YELLOW | Evans | NC | Should have been a yellow at least | 2 | |
| 67 | OTHER | Gerrard | Rooney | C | Trip | 1 |
| 70 | OTHER | Suarez | Scholes | NC | Even Scholes looked confused when Dowd gave this free kick. | 1 |
| 76 | OTHER | Carroll | Rafael | C | Push? Dowd has lost his strictness about players moaning this time around | 1 |
| 78 | YELLOW | Adam | NC | Throwing the ball with force to a Utd player, should have been a yellow card | 2 | |
| 80 | OTHER | Carrick | Suarez | C | tackle from behind | 1 |
| 80 | YELLOW | Carrick | C | correct card | 2 | |
| 81 | GOAL | Liverpool | C | correct goal | 3 | |
| 85 | OTHER | NC | a corner for Liverpool not given? | 1 | ||
| 85 | OTHER | Johnson | Evra | C | Pulled him a bit? | 1 |
| 87 | OFFSIDE | Liverpool | NC | Suarez was level, no offside | 1 | |
| 90 | OTHER | Valencia | Enrique | C | Trip | 1 |
| 91 | OTHER | Welbeck | Adam | C | push | 1 |
| 92 | OFFSIDE | Liverpool | C | correct decision | 1 | |
| 93 | OTHER | Skrtel | Rooney | C | held him by the arm | 1 |
A very tensed game and in this atmosphere it is not easy to stay calm as a ref. The ref missed a few things but over all he got most of his decisions correct.
A talking point was the last minute of the first half when Suarez went down in an incident involving Ferdinand. When looking at the replay I saw Ferdinand kicking the ball away with his right foot. Then the foot of Suarez and the left knee of Ferdinand made contact but Ferdinand did not kicked with that leg, it was his standing leg. So the contact looked unintentional to me and Dowd was correct in this decision.
| COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Phil Dowd (2012-02-11) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Called | Total | Correct % |
| OFFSIDE | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| OTHER | 12 | 17 | 70.59 |
| YELLOW | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| TOTAL | 14 | 19 | 73.68 |
| WEIGHTED | 15 | 20 | 75.00 |
| Period 2 | Called | Total | Correct % |
| GOAL | 3 | 3 | 100.00 |
| OFFSIDE | 2 | 3 | 66.67 |
| OTHER | 11 | 13 | 84.62 |
| YELLOW | 1 | 3 | 33.33 |
| TOTAL | 17 | 22 | 77.27 |
| WEIGHTED | 24 | 31 | 77.42 |
| Totals | Called | Total | Correct % |
| GOAL | 3 | 3 | 100.00 |
| OFFSIDE | 2 | 3 | 66.67 |
| OFSIDE | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| OTHER | 23 | 30 | 76.67 |
| YELLOW | 2 | 4 | 50.00 |
| TOTAL | 31 | 41 | 75.61 |
| WEIGHTED | 39 | 51 | 76.47 |
All in all a very even scored over the two halves and so very consistent in this game. Something I like about refs. Not the best score in total but also not a complete disaster.
| BIAS SUMMARY – Phil Dowd (2012-02-11) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Manchester United | % | Liverpool | % | Total |
| Correct For | 9 | 60.00 | 6 | 40.00 | 15 |
| Correct For Weighted | 10 | 62.50 | 6 | 37.50 | 16 |
| Incorrect Against | 2 | 40.00 | 3 | 60.00 | 5 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 2 | 40.00 | 3 | 60.00 | 5 |
| Fouls Commited | 7 | 46.67 | 8 | 53.33 | 15 |
| Fouls Penalised | 5 | 71.43 | 6 | 75.00 | 11 |
| Period 2 | Manchester United | % | Liverpool | % | Total |
| Correct For | 9 | 52.94 | 8 | 47.06 | 17 |
| Correct For Weighted | 13 | 54.17 | 11 | 45.83 | 24 |
| Incorrect Against | 1 | 20.00 | 4 | 80.00 | 5 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 2 | 28.57 | 5 | 71.43 | 7 |
| Fouls Commited | 6 | 42.86 | 8 | 57.14 | 14 |
| Fouls Penalised | 6 | 100.00 | 7 | 87.50 | 13 |
| Totals | Manchester United | % | Liverpool | % | Total |
| Correct For | 18 | 56.25 | 14 | 43.75 | 32 |
| Correct For Weighted | 23 | 57.50 | 17 | 42.50 | 40 |
| Incorrect Against | 3 | 30.00 | 7 | 70.00 | 10 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 4 | 33.33 | 8 | 66.67 | 12 |
| Fouls Commited | 13 | 44.83 | 16 | 55.17 | 29 |
| Fouls Penalised | 11 | 84.62 | 13 | 81.25 | 24 |
In the wrong calls there was a clear bias in favour of United at the end of the day. Not much on the major decisions but more on the decisions in general.
People know that I am not a big fan of the PGMOL. Or a big fan of Dowd. But when they make a good decision I will admit it and giving this game to Dowd was maybe a good decision. He was very alert to anything involving Suarez and Evra. The two “Twats” in this game. The not handshake from Suarez was a bit of twat craftmanship and the way Evra went on after the game trying to provoke a reaction from Suarez when he went jumping up and down in front of Suarez was only evidence that he also knows how to perform some twat craftmanship.
And credit to Dowd for both at half time and at the end when seeing Evra putting up his childish act he was immediately there at the spot and between the players. So there were a few twats on the field but Dowd was not one of them. I want to give credit to Dowd for handling this situation in the way he did. He has a bit of an imposing figure and his presence brought back a bit of calmness.