Untold Ref Review: Sunderland 0 – 1 Manchester United « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
Today’s referee is Howard Webb –
This article is part of a series stretching over several seasons in which a team of referees analyse the work of refs in Premier League matches.
Our figures show that when we analyse the errors made by refs there are consistent trends which do not “even out” through the season, as some commentators would have it. All the earlier ref reviews plus analyses of the errors made by refs, and articles relating to our campaign to have the body which organises referees activities reformed, plus an analysis of the background to this campaign, can be found on:
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| MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Howard Webb (2012-05-13) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | ||||||
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | Weight |
| 1 | OTHER | NC | Utd players rush in before the whistle, then go back but ref allows the kick off while they still are standing in the circle – beginners mistake | 1 | ||
| 2 | OTHER | Bardsley | Evra | NC | Not given trip | 1 |
| 3 | OTHER | Giggs | Bardsley | C | Little contact on the ankle | 1 |
| 5 | OTHER | Mignolet | NC | Keeper takes 14 seconds to release the ball from his hands after an easy catch | 1 | |
| 12 | OTHER | Young | Sun defender | NC | not given push in the back | 1 |
| 13 | OTHER | Evans | Sessegnon | NC | not given push in the back | 1 |
| 19 | OTHER | Young | Bardsley | C | Little contact on the ankle | 1 |
| 20 | GOAL | MU | C | correct goal | 3 | |
| 21 | OTHER | McClean | Jones | C | lttle push | 1 |
| 23 | OTHER | Campbell | Evra | C | frontal sliding tackle | 1 |
| 23 | YELLOW | Campbell | C | his leg was not straight and his studs were not showing but dangerous so correct card | 2 | |
| 24 | OTHER | Vaughan | Scholes | C | Trip | 1 |
| 29 | OTHER | Bramble | Rooney | C | Trip | 1 |
| 31 | OTHER | Bardsley | Young | C | A wild kick | 1 |
| 31 | YELLOW | Bardsley | C | Is he ref setting a new standard for himself? | 2 | |
| 33 | OTHER | Valencia | McClean | C | push in the back, given by assistant | 1 |
| 36 | OFFSIDE | Sunderland | NC | 1 | ||
| 37 | OTHER | Evra | Campbell | NC | Trip | 1 |
| 37 | OTHER | Evra | Sun? | NC | High foot, strectched leg not given | 1 |
| 37 | YELLOW | Evra | NC | Almost the same like Bardsley but nothing given this time | 2 | |
| 37 | OTHER | Jones | McClean | C | came in wild | 1 |
| 37 | YELLOW | Jones | C | Came late and wild, things where getting a bit heated because of the ref not giving a few fouls from utd | 2 | |
| 38 | OTHER | Jones | Campbell | NC | not given push in the back | 1 |
| 38 | OTHER | Evans | Sessegnon | NC | Hand in the back when he jumped | 1 |
| Period 2 | ||||||
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | Weight |
| 47 | OTHER | Evra | Elmohamady | C | push | 1 |
| 49 | OTHER | Bardsley | Scholes | C | assumed correct but have my doubts because it looked as if Scholes was holding him an he tried to free himself, no replays given bad camera angle | 1 |
| 50 | OTHER | Sessegnon | Scholes | C | Assumed correct, no images shown | 1 |
| 52 | PENALTY | Young | Campbell | C | No replays were shown of this incident when Young blocked Campbell so have to stick with the ref. It was amazing to see that in the replays this part of the scen was cut out | 3 |
| 56 | OTHER | Giggs | Elmohamady | C | Blocked him | 1 |
| 56 | YELLOW | Giggs | C | possible promising attack | 2 | |
| 59 | OTHER | Giggs | NC | frontal tackle not given | 1 | |
| 59 | OTHER | Giggs | Bardsley | NC | not given “”Mertens-push”” almost causing colission between keeper and player | 1 |
| 61 | OTHER | Valencia | Bardsley | C | kick on the ankle | 1 |
| 63 | OTHER | Elmohamady | Rooney | C | Trip | 1 |
| 65 | OTHER | McClean | Valencia | C | Not intentional but he slipped and so brought Valencia down | 1 |
| 67 | OTHER | Turner | Scholes | C | Trip | 1 |
| 67 | YELLOW | Turner | C | promising attack | 2 | |
| 69 | OFFSIDE | MU | NC | Giggs come back from offside, doesn’t challenge the defender first, then decides to attack him, should be given at that moment | 1 | |
| 69 | OTHER | Jones | McClean | C | Trip | 1 |
| 69 | YELLOW | Jones | NC | should have been a yellow, his second | 2 | |
| 70 | OTHER | Scholes | Elmohamady | C | Trip | 1 |
| 70 | YELLOW | Scholes | C | Deliberate foul | 2 | |
| 73 | OTHER | Vaughan | Rooney | C | Trip | 1 |
| 74 | OTHER | Rooney | McClean | C | Trip | 1 |
| 74 | YELLOW | Rooney | NC | No way he could have played the ball, a deliberate trip from behind. Hand from the ref goes to his pocket where the yellow card is but then changes his mind | 2 | |
| 78 | OTHER | Wickham | Young | NC | advantage given but there was non | 1 |
| 78 | YELLOW | Wickham | NC | that was a deliberate foul, should have been a yellow card | 2 | |
| 82 | OTHER | Giggs | McClean | C | Trip | 1 |
| 86 | OTHER | Gardner | Giggs | C | Trip | 1 |
| 87 | OTHER | Wickham | Valencia | C | assumed correct | 1 |
| 89 | OTHER | Bramble | Rooney | C | Trip | 1 |
Talking about a rubbish start…. The United players came rushing in the centre circle before the game was started. Okay Webb did what he should do blow again to cancel the start of the game. But then he let the game start with I think 3 United players still in the centre circle. Now if you want to undermine your authority even before kick off, this was the way to do it. This is Sunday pub league stuff refereeing. This is about letting the players know that the ref is the boss and nobody else. Webb showed that the United players where the boss at the start.
His start was a disaster. From the first 7 calls he had to make 6 (six) where wrong. Luckily for him he improved a bit. But still a score of just above 50% in the first half was not what you expect of one of the “best referees in the world”.
A good moment was when he punished a wild kick on Young and even gave a yellow card for it. The kick didn’t hit Young but if it would have it could have been dangerous. A great moment one could say but minutes later Evra went in twice with a high foot and as dangerous as Bardsley did minutes before. This time twice no foul and no card of course.
The second half he improved a bit. But “Consistency” was not in the ground. Maybe because “Arbitrary” had taken his place. Rooney was excused his yellow card this week after a cynical trip from behind. Webb went for his pocket where he had pulled his yellow card from a few times in this game and then refused to take out the card.
I must say that the persons who operated the replays seemed to have an agenda. Two possible penalty decisions in favour of Sunderland could not properly be reviewed. I left one out completely even. And then to think that right after the incident the ball was put out of play to get some medical attention to the players involved. And the director managed to not show a proper replay of the incident when Evra could have bundled Campbell over. Instead they chose to show an elderly person chewing or show images from the crowd where people just stood there, some talking a bit, some listening to the radio, some also chewing a bit…. yeah that were the images I had been subscribing and paying my sports channel all year long.
The same happened in the second half when a possible penalty against United could have been given. The replay this time started after the trip and then showed the chance that came right after that. There was enough time to show the whole thing but when nothing is shown, we cannot judge. So I gave the ref the benefit of the doubt.
Jones escaped a second yellow card for an exact copy of the foul he got a yellow in the first half.
| COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Howard Webb (2012-05-13) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Called | Total | Correct % |
| GOAL | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| OFFSIDE | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| OTHER | 9 | 18 | 50.00 |
| YELLOW | 3 | 4 | 75.00 |
| TOTAL | 13 | 24 | 54.17 |
| WEIGHTED | 18 | 30 | 60.00 |
| Period 2 | Called | Total | Correct % |
| OFFSIDE | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| OTHER | 16 | 19 | 84.21 |
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| YELLOW | 3 | 6 | 50.00 |
| TOTAL | 20 | 27 | 74.07 |
| WEIGHTED | 25 | 35 | 71.43 |
| Totals | Called | Total | Correct % |
| GOAL | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| OFFSIDE | 0 | 2 | 0.00 |
| OTHER | 25 | 37 | 67.57 |
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| YELLOW | 6 | 10 | 60.00 |
| TOTAL | 33 | 51 | 64.71 |
| WEIGHTED | 43 | 65 | 66.15 |
The final score is not what you expect from a top ref. I sometimes had the impression that he was a bit busy pushing things in a certain direction. That is just a feeling I had based in my experience and maybe this could be backed up with the bias index….
| BIAS SUMMARY – Howard Webb (2012-05-13) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Sunderland | % | Manchester United | % | Total |
| Correct For | 5 | 38.46 | 8 | 61.54 | 13 |
| Correct For Weighted | 6 | 33.33 | 12 | 66.67 | 18 |
| Incorrect Against | 8 | 72.73 | 3 | 27.27 | 11 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 9 | 75.00 | 3 | 25.00 | 12 |
| Fouls Commited | 8 | 42.11 | 11 | 57.89 | 19 |
| Fouls Penalised | 5 | 62.50 | 4 | 36.36 | 9 |
| Period 2 | Sunderland | % | Manchester United | % | Total |
| Correct For | 9 | 45.00 | 11 | 55.00 | 20 |
| Correct For Weighted | 11 | 44.00 | 14 | 56.00 | 25 |
| Incorrect Against | 5 | 71.43 | 2 | 28.57 | 7 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 7 | 70.00 | 3 | 30.00 | 10 |
| Fouls Commited | 10 | 50.00 | 10 | 50.00 | 20 |
| Fouls Penalised | 9 | 90.00 | 7 | 70.00 | 16 |
| Totals | Sunderland | % | Manchester United | % | Total |
| Correct For | 14 | 42.42 | 19 | 57.58 | 33 |
| Correct For Weighted | 17 | 39.53 | 26 | 60.47 | 43 |
| Incorrect Against | 13 | 72.22 | 5 | 27.78 | 18 |
| Incorrect Against Weighted | 16 | 72.73 | 6 | 27.27 | 22 |
| Fouls Commited | 18 | 46.15 | 21 | 53.85 | 39 |
| Fouls Penalised | 14 | 77.78 | 11 | 52.38 | 25 |
And well the majority of wrong calls going in favour of the visitors, Manchester United. So Webb was certainly not a home ref in this game. But this will not come to a surprise to most people I think.
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