Mancini
Central Defender
Kevin Friend's Wes Brown decision was not the worst of the weekend
MANAGER Gus Poyet went berserk and pundits condemned the referee in unison. Internet message boards, with all their unmoderated madness, called for the official to be sacked.
By: Mick Dennis
Published: Tue, November 26, 2013
2
Comments
Friend's was not the worst refereeing decision of the weekend
Kevin Friend’s sending-off of Sunderland’s Wes Brown for “fouling” Charlie Adam was almost universally lambasted.
Only almost. With predictable partisanship and lamentable hypocrisy, the opposing manager understood the decision. Stoke’s Mark Hughes was Friend’s only friend.
Brown steamed in and threw himself, with both feet off the ground, into the challenge. But he made a clean contact with the ball and landed back on the deck about a fortnight before Adam arrived on the scene.
Friend gave himself time to think about it, which is a good thing. Then he pulled out the red card, which was a bad thing.
But here’s the real thing. It was not the worst refereeing decision of the weekend.
There were two other howlers which were more unforgivable because they were more inexplicable.
Kevin Mirallas karate-kicked Luis Suarez just above the knee, yet was only cautioned. Wayne Rooney kicked and slapped Jordon Mutch but he, too, escaped with a yellow card. Yet those two mistakes did not provoke the torrents of criticism that engulfed Friend.
Understandably, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was miffed about that assault by Mirallas. But he only indulged in silly speculation that the poor, misunderstood Suarez would have been punished more harshly if he had been the assailant, rather than the victim. There was disappointment in referee Phil Dowd, rather than the staring-eyed anger that Poyet directed at Friend.
And after Cardiff’s draw with Manchester United, managers Malky Mackay and David Moyes seemed to have signed some sort of pact not to be too harsh about referee Neil Swarbrick.
What did Mackay make of Rooney’s petulant, spiteful attack on Mutch? Um, nothing much. What did Moyes think about Marouane Fellaini being thumped in the face by Gary Medel? Not a lot. Perhaps these things just do not warrant a mention in Glasgow. All of which proves something all referees learn – you get considerably more abuse for sending someone off mistakenly than you do for giving a yellow card when, really, a red would be in order.
At any level of refereeing, you have a much easier life if you err on the side of caution. That’s just the way it is. Similarly, you get far more stick for giving a dubious penalty than for letting a defender get away with a foul in the area. As evidence of that, consider two incidents involving West Brom. Charlie Adam fouled Albion’s Youssouf Mulumbu in the Stoke area, but Howard Webb missed it. He apologised, but there wasn’t much hoo-hah.
Yet, a month later, Andre Marriner awarded Chelsea an unwarranted late penalty at home against Albion and that decision, and the apology it caused, is still reverberating around the game.
So ask yourself this – is Marriner more or less likely to give a penalty at the moment? And that is the real problem.
The way that managers and pundits respond to mistakes of commission rather than omission – doing something rather than not doing something – discourages the referees from making big calls. If we want them to have the courage to send off Rooney early on when he lashes out at an opponent, and if we want them to be brave enough to send someone off for an outrageous and hazardous challenge in an emotional Merseyside derby, then we have to be less censorious when, occasionally, someone is sent off erroneously.
Friend had to judge three objects – Brown, Adam and the ball – moving in time and space. He misinterpreted what he thought he had seen.
But, then, he had the courage to act on what he believed had happened. And in that respect, he did better than Dowd or Swarbrick.
We all need more Friends.
MANAGER Gus Poyet went berserk and pundits condemned the referee in unison. Internet message boards, with all their unmoderated madness, called for the official to be sacked.
By: Mick Dennis
Published: Tue, November 26, 2013
2
Comments
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RED MIST: Kevin Friend is berated by Gus Poyet after sending off Wes Brown [GETTY]Friend's was not the worst refereeing decision of the weekend
Kevin Friend’s sending-off of Sunderland’s Wes Brown for “fouling” Charlie Adam was almost universally lambasted.
Only almost. With predictable partisanship and lamentable hypocrisy, the opposing manager understood the decision. Stoke’s Mark Hughes was Friend’s only friend.
Brown steamed in and threw himself, with both feet off the ground, into the challenge. But he made a clean contact with the ball and landed back on the deck about a fortnight before Adam arrived on the scene.
Friend gave himself time to think about it, which is a good thing. Then he pulled out the red card, which was a bad thing.
But here’s the real thing. It was not the worst refereeing decision of the weekend.
There were two other howlers which were more unforgivable because they were more inexplicable.
Kevin Mirallas karate-kicked Luis Suarez just above the knee, yet was only cautioned. Wayne Rooney kicked and slapped Jordon Mutch but he, too, escaped with a yellow card. Yet those two mistakes did not provoke the torrents of criticism that engulfed Friend.
Understandably, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was miffed about that assault by Mirallas. But he only indulged in silly speculation that the poor, misunderstood Suarez would have been punished more harshly if he had been the assailant, rather than the victim. There was disappointment in referee Phil Dowd, rather than the staring-eyed anger that Poyet directed at Friend.
And after Cardiff’s draw with Manchester United, managers Malky Mackay and David Moyes seemed to have signed some sort of pact not to be too harsh about referee Neil Swarbrick.
Logon or register to see this image
It was really Rooney who should have been sent off this weekend for his clash with Mutch [GETTY]What did Mackay make of Rooney’s petulant, spiteful attack on Mutch? Um, nothing much. What did Moyes think about Marouane Fellaini being thumped in the face by Gary Medel? Not a lot. Perhaps these things just do not warrant a mention in Glasgow. All of which proves something all referees learn – you get considerably more abuse for sending someone off mistakenly than you do for giving a yellow card when, really, a red would be in order.
At any level of refereeing, you have a much easier life if you err on the side of caution. That’s just the way it is. Similarly, you get far more stick for giving a dubious penalty than for letting a defender get away with a foul in the area. As evidence of that, consider two incidents involving West Brom. Charlie Adam fouled Albion’s Youssouf Mulumbu in the Stoke area, but Howard Webb missed it. He apologised, but there wasn’t much hoo-hah.
Yet, a month later, Andre Marriner awarded Chelsea an unwarranted late penalty at home against Albion and that decision, and the apology it caused, is still reverberating around the game.
So ask yourself this – is Marriner more or less likely to give a penalty at the moment? And that is the real problem.
The way that managers and pundits respond to mistakes of commission rather than omission – doing something rather than not doing something – discourages the referees from making big calls. If we want them to have the courage to send off Rooney early on when he lashes out at an opponent, and if we want them to be brave enough to send someone off for an outrageous and hazardous challenge in an emotional Merseyside derby, then we have to be less censorious when, occasionally, someone is sent off erroneously.
Friend had to judge three objects – Brown, Adam and the ball – moving in time and space. He misinterpreted what he thought he had seen.
But, then, he had the courage to act on what he believed had happened. And in that respect, he did better than Dowd or Swarbrick.
We all need more Friends.
What a f***ing bellend this bloke is. He's just shown that he is as incompetent as the rest of them by claiming that Brown "steamed in and threw himself, with both feet off the ground, into the challenge. But he made a clean contact with the ball and landed back on the deck about a fortnight before Adam arrived on the scene." No he didn't you f***ing idiot. Gutter press at its worst.
