FA Community Shield Final Sunday, 6 August 6:00 AM Arsenal v. Chelsea Referee: Bobby Madley Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Simon Bennett Fourth official: Graham Scott Reserve AR: Edward Smart
Kick-offs 3pm BST unless stated. Friday 11 August 7.45pm Arsenal v Leicester City (Sky Sports) Referee: Mike Dean Assistants: S Long, D Cann Fourth official: L Mason Saturday 12 August 12.30pm Watford v Liverpool (Sky Sports) Referee: Anthony Taylor Assistants: G Beswick, P Kirkup Fourth official: P Tierney Chelsea v Burnley Referee: Craig Pawson Assistants: R West, C Hatzidakis Fourth official: L Mason Crystal Palace v Huddersfield Town Referee: Jon Moss Assistants: E Smart, A Halliday Fourth official: G Scott Everton v Stoke City Referee: Neil Swarbrick Assistants: H Lennard, M McDonough Fourth official: O Langford Southampton v Swansea City Referee: Mike Jones Assistants: M Scholes, D Eaton Fourth official: S Martin West Bromwich Albion v AFC Bournemouth Referee: Bobby Madley Assistants: M Perry, A Holmes Fourth official: R East 5.30pm Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester City (BT Sport) Referee: Michael Oliver Assistants: S Bennett, J Collin Fourth official: S Attwell Sunday 13 August 1.30pm Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur (Sky Sports) Referee: Andre Marriner Assistants: S Beck, S Ledger Fourth official: K Friend 4pm Manchester United v West Ham United (Sky Sports) Referee: Martin Atkinson Assistants: S Child, A Nunn Fourth official: N Swarbrick
What is going on in England? Please, somebody let us know. 18 referees on the select list. 10 are over the age of 45. By the end of the season, 5 will be over 50. Only one referee promoted to the top list this year as Clattenberg falls off. Chris Kavanagh, 32, joins the list. He did 1 PL match last season. He becomes the first Manchester FA referee to do Premier League match.
I would suggest you take a look at Keith Hackett's "You are the Ref" website. He has been commenting on the situation in England for several years. In short, he is not happy with what is going on (or not going on) and seems to put the blame on the PGMOL boss, Mike Riley. PH
Che v bur Pawson goes straight red on Cahill for a single leg, high, studs up lunge in min14. Historically i think it would get a caution in the premier league. I had it as orange. I wonder if clamping down on this type of tackle will be a point of emphasis for the premier league this season...
It's just that the EPL has had a higher bar for red than any other league. I'm sure there were worse fouls last year that only got yellow.
Oliver's FIFA badge fell off at some point around the 30th minute of the first half. We later see him pick something up off the ground, but when he walks off with his team he still isn't wearing it. I imagine it will reappear for the second half.
If worse fouls got yellow last year, I'd say those were misses and not indicative of what the standard is or should be. Whether or not the EPL still has a higher bar for SFP or not (and I agree that, historically that's been true), this is textbook SFP worldwide going back to at least the early 90s, well before the "endangering the safety" standard. It's a straight leg with studs fully exposed, late, over the ball, high contact and done immediately after losing possession of the ball with a heavy touch. This could be THE instructional clip for identifying the most common form of SFP.
Mason didn't react and didn't say anything into the mic so I suspect nothing. And even though I think Fabregas was being a jerk, this could be used as a good lesson to not give players the opportunity to be stupid in a borderline fashion. If Mason had stepped aside from the tunnel entrance, Fabregas has no opportunity to give the slight bump. Either no contact occurs or Fabregas goes out of his way to assault an official. By making that move proactively, Mason turns a grey area into a black and white decision.
Cahill' s tackle appears to me to be a straight red, no questions asked. As Mass Ref points out, we see this type of recovery try even in matches at our levels. My antenna goes up when a defensive player like Cahill is carrying the ball, and there is a bit of a heavy touch. I find without fail at higher levels That the player will try to win the ball back at all costs. And it a really good idea to be within shouting distance of that type of play.
I do wish this type of tackle were eliminated. But the standard is what is enforced. As you point out, a very similar challenge, with more direct contact, occurred by fabregas in the same game that received a caution. How many of us were mildly surprised that Cahill was sent off? I watch as many epl games as I can and certainly not as many as some here, but I was....
The bigger question is if this type of tackle will result in a red card later on in the season. Quite often the referees start the season in a strict "clamping down" mode, but soon regress to the norm. Same for the clapping that got Fabregas his 1st yellow and other types of dissent. PH
How many times must we say it is pointless to listen to announcers when it comes to the LOTG and referees' decisions? Almost all of them have no real understanding and also have an agenda and something to sell. This is just another example that proves the point. PH
That indeed was the point of my original musing... It's disheartening to hear that epl refs relax their standards as the season progresses, and hard to understand the benefit of doing so.
That's not always the referees fault though, quite often they follow instructions from the FA/league and it's those instructions that change as the seasons goes on.
Nor is this a soccer thing. A large percentage of points of emphasis in all sports have a way of softening closer to the status quo ante as the season progresses.
MD2 Sat 19th Aug 2017 AFC Bournemouth v Watford FC Referee: East, Roger Assistant Referee: Scholes, Mark Assistant Referee: Massey-Ellis, Sian Fourth Official: Sarginson, Christopher Burnley FC v West Bromwich Albion FC Referee: Atkinson, Martin Assistant Referee: Kirkup, Peter Assistant Referee: Child, Steve Fourth Official: Kavanagh, Christopher Leicester City FC v Brighton & Hove Albion FC Referee: Probert, Lee Assistant Referee: Garratt, Andrew Assistant Referee: Cook, Dan Fourth Official: Pawson, Craig Liverpool FC v Crystal Palace FC Referee: Friend, Kevin Assistant Referee: Holmes, Adrian Assistant Referee: Lennard, Harry Fourth Official: Dean, Michael Southampton FC v West Ham United Referee: Mason, Lee Assistant Referee: Hatzidakis, Constantine Assistant Referee: Wilkes, Matthew Fourth Official: Swarbrick, Neil Stoke City FC v Arsenal Referee: Marriner, Andre Assistant Referee: Beck, Simon Assistant Referee: Ledger, Scott Fourth Official: Madley, Robert Swansea City FC v Manchester United FC Referee: Moss, Jonathan Assistant Referee: Smart, Edward Assistant Referee: Halliday, Andrew Fourth Official: Jones, Michael Sun 20th Aug 2017 Huddersfield Town FC v Newcastle United FC Referee: Pawson, Craig Assistant Referee: Bennett, Simon Assistant Referee: West, Richard Fourth Official: Kavanagh, Christopher Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea Referee: Taylor, Anthony Assistant Referee: Beswick, Gary Assistant Referee: Nunn, Adam Fourth Official: Dean, Michael Mon 21st Aug 2017 Manchester City FC v Everton FC Referee: Madley, Robert Assistant Referee: Perry, Marc Assistant Referee: Betts, Lee Fourth Official: Oliver, Michael
He missed the entire 15/16 season due to injury, but returned and did 31 matches last year including 4 in the Premier League. He has already done 2 matches this year, 1 in League one and another in the Championship. Because of the recent retirements/resignations, Probert is probably a welcomed returnee.