Grassroots Referee

@grassrootsrefJa Just my own opinion of course. I understand some of their reasoning but it does feel like it’s opened the door to more of this behaviour which goes against the idea of reducing referee abuse.

@grassrootsrefJa I completely agree. I also think now that the FA have set the precedent, inevitably a player will end up (rightly) getting a ban for comments similar, and then fans will quite fairly point to this as evidence of unequal punishment. They’ve just created a bigger future issue

Staggered that the FA didn't demand a ban for this. Basically they've said you can call the referee biased and get away with a meaningless fine if you do the following which is ridiculous and only encourages more players to do the same. Yet again the FA fail to protect referees

@tomr997 I think that’s why they didn’t call him over for an on-field review, as they were satisfied not all criteria were met. I was surprised the delay went on for as long as it did

@JRreferee This is were VAR doesn't help itself though no need for him to review that because they should know the 4 criteria. Also talksport commentary my word they are thick

Spot on. Doesn’t meet the required criteria for DOGSO.

@refcraig I have to say I’m quite pleased at the commentary referencing one of the DOGSO criteria as a possible reason why the yellow is correct here. Usually commentary does no favours for the referee and indirectly influences a pile-on but this one is better. Still won’t stop everyone!

@JRreferee Not according to some 🤦🏻‍♂️

Wow. Not quite sure how they’ve got to that decision.

@spaulinnit @grassrootsrefJa I can see that argument too, definitely up to interpretation!

@JRreferee @grassrootsrefJa I don't think there was any difference in force used by the attacker stepping forward and the defender moving back. They both move into the same space at the same time.

For me there isn't enough in this for a foul but once it's given as a foul on the pitch I certainly don't think it's a clear and obvious error #TOTARS

@spaulinnit @grassrootsrefJa I think the force used was minimal but sufficient to interrupt Gabriel’s jump, but the exaggeration is quite pathetic imo. Kolo Muani hasn’t helped himself out by clearly moving towards Gabriel with his arms extended in a pushing motion either. On-field call all day imo

@JRreferee @grassrootsrefJa I don't think there was a push though. The attacker just had his arms in front of him moving at the same the defender backed into him. A player is entitled to protect their space.

@NCCMagpie I would be surprised if that was considered excessive force. But I agree that I think a second yellow should have been given.

@JRreferee Sort of my point. It was reckless, surprised the referee didn’t give that in real time. But because he jumped at the player, turning side on to hit the opponent, at speed, took it from reckless to excessive force endangering an opponent, so VAR intervention for possible red card.

Interesting this wasn’t given as a caution imo. Can certainly make a case for making a foul with disregard to the danger to an opponent. Looks reckless in my opinion

@NCCMagpie Reckless is a yellow card, excessive force is red. I think the challenge is reckless so a second yellow would have been appropriate, but VAR does not currently review second yellow offences

@JRreferee No intention to play the ball. Plays the player and cannot be an argument against endangering an opponent; so reckless! Is this not a nailed on red on its own? Ref may not see in real time but it an obvious error for a VAR decision to review!

@caledgar1 The fact Bernardo has done that whilst on a yellow already is baffling, referee would have been more than justified in law to send him off. Absolutely got away with that imo

@JRreferee Most blatant yellow I’ve ever seen, just directly jumps into his chest. Weird that it wasn’t given I just laughed when I saw the reply and it hadn’t been give.

@Bailz84 @DaleJohnsonBBC It’s not an action that’s in the spirit of the game at all in my opinion. Whilst it’s technically ‘punishable’ with the retaken kick if seen, it’s unreasonable to expect the referee to simultaneously watch all movement of 19 players. It’s rather like the mutual pushing at corners

@JRreferee @DaleJohnsonBBC Appreciate your comments, but I do think that VAR is in a very bad place. We can't be in a position where a defender can push an attacker offside with both hands and there is no infringement. Not one fan in the country would agree that what Dias did was within the laws.

We see defenders pushing or nudging attackers into an offside position regularly. It happens before the ball is in play so there can be no foul/penalty award before the offside. If on-field officials had spotted it, and considered it a foul, the free-kick could be retaken.

@Bailz84 @DaleJohnsonBBC This link should have the answer as to why VAR didn’t intervene. My assumption for why Dias wasn’t booked is that either the referee did not see it or did not believe it to be a foul. Obviously I can’t say for sure premierleague.com/en/VAR

@JRreferee @DaleJohnsonBBC So why did VAR not look at it? Surely the result of the incident should have been a re-take? Or can VAR only look at the offside? Because if that's the case it's just another example of the shambles of a system it is. Why was Dias not booked for the push?

@Bailz84 @DaleJohnsonBBC Dale is spot on with what he’s said. The difference is in the game the referee did not punish the push, so the free kick did not have the chance to be retaken. Dale is completely correct.

@JRreferee @DaleJohnsonBBC Which didn't happen, expert Dale knows best though 👍🏼

@Bailz84 @DaleJohnsonBBC It does not say a player cannot be penalised for offside if they were pushed by an opponent in LOTG. It does however say that if the ball is out of play when the foul occurs, play is restarted with the previous decision, so the kick should be retaken if the push was penalised.

@DaleJohnsonBBC A player cannot be penalised for offside if they were pushed there by an opponent.

@101Referee @grassrootsrefJa Agreed. Don’t think a ref has ever claimed to be perfect and everyone knows human error is a factor. Some more than others just prefer to use it as a deflection rather than accountability for their own tactical mistakes/errors which is a shame

@JRreferee @grassrootsrefJa They had a bad day. But refs are not the problem. It’s the players who are constantly cheating & who never get called out. It’s the managers who pile on to the ref during & after games to hide their own deficiencies - even when the ref is right, It’s the media who lap it all up

Interesting to see a referee after a poor performance has been held accountable and doesn’t have a game, resulting in at minimum a financial impact notwithstanding other effects. Bad day to be part of the “refs have no accountability” brigade!

@caledgar1 I think it’ll also have a massive impact on this. I’d be beyond shocked if he gets a final now this year, and maybe not even another FA cup game. Which usually are taken by the elite group of refs. So definitely think it would affect that but I could of course be wrong

@JRreferee But he’s also 1 of 3 elite referees apparently as he got added but it also shows that he shouldn’t be in the other 2 bracket

@caledgar1 I think both can be true, obviously it does take him out of the firing line but it’ll literally hurt him financially as well as mentally, which you’d like to think he would use to assess his own performance to minimise the chance of it happening again

@JRreferee It’ll be a week off and he’ll be back like normal, I don’t see it being held accountable rather than being taken out the firing line as all eyes would be then on the game after he did. So it eases it more than anything