Our weekly refereeing feature from local official Paul Richards who picks up on the big decisions in the game and some of the other issues that effect the sport we all love.
So another weekend has gone by with numerous decisions that have made football fans angry and confused.
Here is my view on the two Arsenal goals, that Matic incident and consistency of the last man rule that referees simply do not seem to be able to grasp.
Let us start off with the penalty. I will not be popular to say that I would have given the spot kick and that the decision was correct.
The rule of thumb is that if contact starts outside the area but carries on then the penalty should be given. I do actually believe that the initial contact happened on the line of the 18 yard box so regardless of the second contact or where it carried on, it is a penalty. Had the assistant not flagged from where Mark Clattenburg is I think he would of given a free kick instead.
I told the editor of the site that I believed the second goal was legitimately given. Since then I have seen it from a different angle and now believe it was offside. I am afraid the assistant got it wrong but yet I can see why he did not flag and I have had the hindsight of a second view. You have to be 100% sure when you give a decision but if you are not then I would be inclined to give it to the attacking side.
Now, Jose Mourinho likes a good moan about the officials and sometimes he is right, but come on, this is not Fifa15.
Burnley striker Ashley Barnes passed the ball and in the motion of doing so he catches Nemanja Matic. Try and pass a ball yourself and see after you have made contact, can you stop your leg?
There is no way in a million years that was a foul and I salute the Football Association for not charging the Burnley man. Serbian midfielder Matic on the other hand deserved the red card and should get the maximum ban. If he had done that on the street he would have got a charge for common assault.
If we are being strict here, Chelsea should have been down to nine men to be honest. Their striker Diego Costa kicking out for which he should have seen a straight red. It is more a case of lucky, lucky Mourinho.
The Aston Villa game was a strange one. Before Scott Sinclair scored he gave away a foul which somehow was not seen. He looked more embarrassed to score and get away it then he was to actually sign for Villa.
The red for Vlaar was a weird one too. The referee appeared to give a second yellow and then the red. I am sorry, but he was the last man and instead of getting a straight red and a three game ban he now serves a one game ban. It was a very poor reaction to the incident and I would like to find out why he did not reach for a straight red.
I have mention briefly how poor the decision was not to give Joleon Lescott a red. Sunderland’s Graham is through and beats him for pace (yes I said Graham out-paced someone!) and made contact. If the referee believes it to be a foul in that position then it is an automatic red.
On the other hand, Joey Barton’s red was a correct decision. It is yet another case of violent conduct and it is off the ball.
So there are my views on the growing debatable decisions. Some of them shocking while others are just weird ones involving red cards, or not as the case may be.
