Chelsea win after refereeing shocker…..again!
There comes a time as a football fan, when events and decisions are conspiring against your team that you just hold your hands up and think to yourself, “Why do I even bother watching?”
Of course the answer is because I love football and more importantly I love Manchester United, but officiating like we saw at Old Trafford today really makes me lose a little love for the game.
Chelsea‘s winning goal was scored by Didier Drogba after what should have been one of the most straight forward offside decisions of the linesman’s career. Yet his flag stayed down and the subsequent goal gifts Chelsea a vital extra two points in the title race. And not for the first time this season.
At Stamford Bridge there was equally bizarre refereeing as I wrote about back in November. That gave Chelsea another two points that they shouldn’t have had. And those 4 extra points could possibly be the difference between winning and losing the title.
It has to be said that the officials do have difficult jobs and they do get a lot of unfair stick from us as fans and even from the players and coaching staff. That said, they need to get the easy decisions right and at the moment they’re just not doing that. It’s not just against us either. We see ridiculous decisions every week from incompetent referees who simply look out of their depth in the Premier League. Are they affected by home crowds? Sometimes, but on today’s performance by Mike Dean and his assistants you’d have to say it wasn’t the case. It’s almost expected that Mike Dean will give a dodgy decision at some point in every game he officiates, and if he didn’t do it with that smug look on his oh so punchable face I could probably just put him down as incompetent, but he actually seems to thrive on being the villain and being in the spotlight. And he’s not alone either, several other “top” referees are the same.
The number of refereeing catastrophes that we see every week make the ‘Respect’ campaign a complete farce. Too often games are won and lost by the incompetence of the men in black, and at the end of the season it’s often the difference between winning and losing the title, getting a place in Europe or even being relegated to the Championship. Tens of millions of pounds are at stake, not just points, so we need to start training referees to a higher level of proficiency and start making them accountable for their actions. The linesman who decided that Drogba was onside today should spend a few weeks in the Championship as punishment for his mistake, and maybe when he comes back he’ll remember to stay alert for the whole 90 minutes.
At the moment the standard of officiating in England simply isn’t good enough. And only with accountability for the match officials will be finally get back the game that we all know and love.
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I agree the ref was useless. I do think Chelsea deserved it on play alone, but that should not really matter, the fact is if big decisions were made, god knows what the score would of been. But usually as always the difference between big sides is the ref making bad decisions. I am a chelsea fan, and very pleased, but a ref seems pointless as they don’t do anything but effect the game the wrong way.
Drogbas goal was offside, no doubt, but Macheda goal was surely a handball (or 2)? Even itself out maybe? You could even talk about Gary Nevilles bodycheck on Anelka in the first half as a very very strong penalty shout.
Either way, we still have got Liverpool and Spurs away which are huge games for us. There are still some massive twists left in this title race.
Calum (Chelsea Fan)
Definitely offside, but justice was done as Machede handled the ball into the net.
Both goals should have been disallowed, and 1-0 the final score.
Still 3 points to us mate.
Still a long way to go.
True Blue
I agree that Drogs was well off side and could not believe that the goal stood… however Macheada did put the ball in with his hand so perhaps it does work out pretty well over the season. PS remember the kung-fu kick on Drogs at the Bridge from Evans and Didier got booked!… referees, there all f@*#wits
Calum – It looked like it hit Macheda’s stomach on the replay. It’ll be interesting to see it analyzed on MOTD tonight.
Agree about the body check on Anelka, but you could argue Park had his leg swiped in the Chelsea penalty area before that.
It’s not just a rant about the result anyway. It’s about the standard of refereeing in general, which is shockingly poor.
This article is absolutely on the money. I totally agree, both the game at SB and this game have been decided by incorrect decisions by officials. Its time for video replays. The game has grown so much it can’t be decided in this random fashion. I felt the same way – why do you bother when the whole league season can be decided like this. Puts you off the game altogether.