The Referee Blues

I wrote about this topic a couple of months ago, but it bears repeating after a pathetic couple of weeks for the officials that too often affect the outcomes of games in world football today. Arsenal has often been the recipient of terrible calls, none as important as the Newcastle League red and Van Persie UCL send off last year that seemed to, together with the Carling Cup disaster, punctuate our fall. But we have been relieved of this plague in recent weeks (knock on wood) after some questionable calls did little to help us through our early troubles; including the absurd Gervinho red against Newcastle. But Liverpool, Bolton and Everton have all suffered from terrible calls this year, sending off players for fouls that warranted yellows at best; often early in matches thus all but ensuring defeat. Manchester suffered a questionable penalty call against Newcastle and Chelsea had an entire game against QPR largely decided by at least two terrible calls. While it is easy to sit on the sideline and complain from the comfort of replays and a camera that follows the ball around, it is clear that something needs to be done. Thankfully, after the disaster that was the last World Cup, goal line technology will be implemented at some point, but there needs to be more collaboration among the officials on the field and maybe a directive to be a little less quick with the red card. On the latter point, I have noticed that refs too often pull the red out quickly, not taking the time to think about it before they act. To me that is exactly the wrong approach. I also wonder if it is possible to get rid of some of the worst referees in the game, as they are consistently bad. Not likely, of course!

In this vein, the send off of English International Gary Cahill in the 17th minute of their match against Tottenham (which they lost 3-0) has been reversed, which is little solace to a squad and manager in the relegation zone (SoccerNet). On the flip side, if the early foul by the largely terrible David Luiz had been properly called, he would have been sent off and maybe the Newcastle game would have ended differently. Apparently, the ref admitted as much after the game (ESPN). And it is hard to argue that Liverpool didn't probably lose at least two points yesterday after the questionable sendoff of Lucas replacement Spearing. The team needs to start putting the ball in the back of the net, but since the Everton game (where another early sendoff all but sealed the result before it even started) they have not received too many positive calls. I suppose with the current state of Football leadership, it's not surprising that little has been done to deal with this situation, but it is time for managers to intervene to change the nature of the sport, so the best side more often has the opportunity to win. 

P.S. Is Luis Suarez, who is lovely to watch, becoming the bad boy of English football? While Barton has been letting his play do the talking more of late, Suarez can't seem to get through a game without rifling up some controversy. The latest is the charge that he gave the finger to Craven Cottage fans after the loss yesterday. Not a big deal, but together with the charges of racism levied by Evra, the penchant for "drawing" fouls and flopping if the wind changes directions, he is now a marked man by some and will continue to draw fouls from opponents who figure they will get away with them since he flops so much.