Matchweek 19 Liverpool - Leeds Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett. Fourth official: Tony Harrington. VAR: Darren England. Assistant VAR: Peter Kirkup. Wolves - Watford Referee: Jarred Gillett. Assistants: Adam Nunn, Neil Davies. Fourth official: David Coote. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: James Mainwaring. Burnley - Everton Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Geoff Eltringham. VAR: John Brooks. Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton. Man City - Leicester Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Harry Lennard, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Mike Dean. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger. Norwich - Arsenal Referee: Graham Scott. Assistants: Richard West, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Dean Whitestone. VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Simon Long. Tottenham - Crystal Palace Referee: Jonathan Moss. Assistants: Marc Perry, Timothy Wood. Fourth official: Stephen Martin. VAR: Simon Hooper. Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes. West Ham - Southampton Referee: Kevin Friend. Assistants: Simon Beck, Adrian Holmes. Fourth official: Robert Jones. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann. Aston Villa - Chelsea Referee: Martin Atkinson. Assistants: Lee Betts, Constantine Hatzidakis. Fourth official: Michael Salisbury. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Dan Cook. Brighton - Brentford Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Eddie Smart, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Keith Stroud. VAR: Andre Marriner. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis. Newcastle - Man Utd Referee: Craig Pawson. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Darren Cann. Fourth official: Anthony Taylor. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Timothy Wood.
Matchweek 20 Arsenal - Wolves Referee: Peter Bankes. Assistants: James Mainwaring, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Michael Salisbury. VAR: Mike Dean. Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart. Crystal Palace - Norwich Referee: Paul Tierney. Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Neil Davies. Fourth official: John Brooks. VAR: Jonathan Moss. Assistant VAR: Marc Perry. Southampton - Tottenham Referee: Simon Hooper. Assistants: Dan Robathan, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Graham Scott. VAR: Andy Madley. Assistant VAR: Richard West. Watford - West Ham Referee: Darren England. Assistants: Dan Cook, Peter Kirkup. Fourth official: Chris Kavanagh. VAR: Martin Atkinson. Assistant VAR: Lee Betts. Leeds - Aston Villa Referee: Robert Jones. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Adrian Holmes. Fourth official: Michael Oliver. VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes. Leicester - Liverpool Referee: Andre Marriner. Assistants: Simon Long, Scott Ledger. Fourth official: David Coote. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes. Chelsea - Brighton Referee: Mike Dean. Assistants: Eddie Smart, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Kevin Friend. Assistant VAR: Simon Beck. Brentford - Man City Referee: David Coote. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Nick Hopton. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis. Everton - Newcastle Referee: Graham Scott. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Richard West. Fourth official: Martin Atkinson. VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn. Man Utd - Burnley Referee: Jonathan Moss. Assistants: Marc Perry, Timothy Wood. Fourth official: Paul Tierney. VAR: Darren England. Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan.
Matchweek 21 Arsenal - Man City Referee: Stuart Attwell. Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Simon Long. Fourth official: Kevin Friend. VAR: Jarred Gillet. Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton. Leicester - Norwich Referee: Tony Harrington. Assistants: Harry Lennard, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Jonathan Moss. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin. Watford - Tottenham Referee: Robert Jones. Assistants: Richard West, Nick Hopton. Fourth official: Andy Madley. VAR: Lee Mason. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann. Crystal Palace - West Ham Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Chris Kavanagh. Assistant VAR: James Mainwaring. Brentford - Aston Villa Referee: Craig Pawson. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Scott Ledger. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Michael Oliver. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis. Everton - Brighton Referee: John Brooks. Assistants: Lee Betts, James Mainwaring. Fourth official: Martin Atkinson. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes. Leeds - Burnley Referee: Kevin Friend. Assistants: Simon Beck, Adrian Holmes. Fourth official: Michael Salisbury. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Neil Davies. Southampton - Newcastle Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Dan Cook, Timothy Wood. Fourth official: Andre Marriner. VAR: David Coote. Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton. Chelsea - Liverpool Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Mike Dean. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis. Man Utd - Wolves Referee: Mike Dean. Assistants: Darren Cann, Eddie Smart. Fourth official: Robert Jones. VAR: Andre Marriner. Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick. Both Taylor and Dean also did the reverse fixtures, both of them not without controversies.
"Big" matches: Leicester - Man City (Community Shield): Tierney Tottenham - Man City: Taylor Arsenal - Chelsea: Tierney Man City - Arsenal: Atkinson Liverpool - Chelsea: Taylor Leicester - Man City: Tierney Tottenham - Chelsea: Tierney Chelsea - Man City: Oliver Arsenal - Tottenham: Pawson Liverpool - Man City: Tierney Leicester - Man Utd: Pawson Man Utd - Liverpool: Taylor Leicester - Arsenal: Oliver Tottenham - Man Utd: Attwell Man Utd - Man City: Oliver Leicester - Chelsea: Tierney Liverpool - Arsenal: Oliver Chelsea - Man Utd: Taylor Everton - Liverpool: Tierney Man Utd - Arsenal: Atkinson Leicester - Tottenham: Pawson Tottenham - Liverpool: Tierney Man City - Leicester: Kavanagh Leicester - Liverpool: Marriner Arsenal - Man City: Attwell Chelsea - Liverpool: Taylor Distribution of these matches in the EPL: Tierney: 7 Taylor: 5 Oliver: 4 Pawson: 3 Atkinson: 2 Attwell: 2 Kavanagh: 1 Marriner: 1 Kavanagh and Marriner's first "big" assignments come midway through the season.
I know it's done by tradition, but PGMOL is being awfully ambitious announcing full referee apointments through GW21 when matches have been postponed for GW16, 17 and now 18 already. I hope all the matches above are played as scheduled, but signs aren't pointing in that direction. And as fixtures start to drop off, you'd think PGMOL would want the ability to reassign and balance workload if it comes to that. Now any change for the next four "weeks" is public.
As many of us said back when, soccer is taking a fundamentally different approach from most video review that is truly focused on objective decisions. And because of the nature of most common objective decision that VAR gets involved in, OSP, people hate the objectivity as much as the challenge of subjective decisions. While there are occasional bizarrely glaring misses by refs, there aren't that many events that everyone truly agrees are C&O, which makes it utterly unsurprising that there remain many different implementations and very little consistency--VAR is all about pretending that gray is either black or white.
Yeah, four more GW18 matches just got taken off the board (in addition to the one already postponed). So England, Salisbury, Bankes and Hooper already all lose published assignments.
It's almost like PRO was onto something. At this rate, we're more likely to see a total suspension of the PL then we are having most of these matches played.
That's where I was going, and I know we've had this discussion before. VAR was the first major effort to use video review to rule on subjective decisions. In every other sport, video review is used primarily on objective decisions. The only areas where subjective decisions have been under review to a degree in the traditional American sports were the NFL's ill-fated attempt at using reviews for pass interference and the NBA's efforts to give a coach's challenge for some foul calls like block/charge.
Aren't flagrant fouls in the NBA and college all subject to review? And targeting in college football now? I realize the latter was after VAR started and I'm not sure about the former. But just checking because your last sentence makes it sound like only coach's challenges in the NBA apply to this category right now. Oh, and I know you said "traditional American sports," so this isn't a criticism, but I think given we are talking about a global sport we can't ignore that TMO stuff in rugby has been working for subjective decisions.
Targeting is a reviewable play in college football, and it goes over about as well as a VAR review for a penalty. Many of the criticisms I hear about targeting are similar to VAR issues in terms of consistency. I forgot about flagrants. I think those are mandatory reviews. I don't watch a lot of NBA and watch even less college basketball, so those pretty much slipped my mind.
They should institute manager challenges. Use mandatory VAR for the same KMI that it's used for now, but then let managers challenge up to three plays a game to rescind a foul against their team, award a foul to their team, a GK/CK possession, etc. Then for each lost challenge, you lose a sub. Brilliant idea that I can't see any issue with.
Or they could just not re-referee the match and use it for when the Referee makes a blatant and obvious error on a KMI. And train people using it to agree what that means.
Speaking of games off... only one top level match today. Arsenal v Leeds. The Villa game called off about 2h before kickoff.
Mike Dean is World Class. pic.twitter.com/VaPbwnDglm— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) December 16, 2021 Mike Dean, baby.
Oof. Dark orange/red tackle from Xhaka given as a throw by Marriner. https://mixture.gg/v/61be2ac12fc10
Has it been like 5 seasons now where I’ve said Marriner just misses big decisions? I used to really rate him. And I thought maybe VAR would help him re-establish past form. But that train has left the station. I’m not sure what Marriner brings to the table anymore. He’s gone from one of the top guys to one who is clearly past his prime.
I think it's a correct non-intervention from Oliver both in the Premier League and UEFA even though I think UEFA would probably call it an 8+ red card. But when the on field decision is not even a foul it's one where the clear and obvious standard becomes a little less palatable. But when you have the proximity that Mariner did here you just can't miss a decision by three levels. I realize he was somewhat straight on to the contact but the team needs to at least get a yellow here.
But he gave a YC for an almost identical foul by a Leeds player just a few minutes later! Although he at least took the gift from Xhaka to give him a YC for the timewasting near the end of the match. PH
They need to institute manager challenges like there are in NFL, MLB, NBA. You have the technology and people are going to complain whether you use it or not, so just use it as much as you can If something clear is missed, let the referee have the opportunity to view it and make a decision. Imagine the opponent coach being able to tell the fourth official he wants to challenge that completely missed reckless challenge, CR goes to VAR, and can get the decision correct rather than having to me insulted by all the replays of how they missed it. Challenges could just be used for clear fouls believed to be missed, incorrect restarts TI/GK/CK, etc. The big decisions (offside, penalty, RC) still go to automatic VAR.
Yeah. We should just stop caring about flow at all. Heck, let’s just have all restarts delayed until the video team has time to review the call, then we get everything right. Oh, wait, many calls are ultimately subjective, and going to the monitor doesn’t make people happy anyway.
NEW:MC PK on the keeper? I know it is unfortunate and accidental, but you have to give it don’t you? https://streamable.com/j5u6rf