Referees/Officials

[meltonblue]

I've never believed there is inherent corruption as such with referees aside from a bit of unconscious bias that i believe is natural, and there are some reasons behind why the standard of refereeing appears to have dropped so much (changes in the offside rule, which also makes defending much harder, the speed of the game now etc.). We've definitely had a bad run of it lately though.

Due to the laws having to be open to interpretation, all that can really be expected of referees is that they are consistent in how they judge fouls during each 90 minutes, but I don't think they've even done that with this season, and even when they are, it also has a big impact on subsequent games too.

Had Oliver called for a penalty and sent off Matip or Milner (or Otamendi or Toure, for the interests of balance), then the impact wouldn't have been felt just in those 90 minutes, but in the games those players would have been suspended for too. Not only does it increase the chances of the team with 11 of winning that particular game, it would also have weakened an opponent in further games.

Im not sure how that is resolved, but it's where interpretation has a major flaw.

 

[cibaman]

I dont think there's much more the club can do about dodgy refereeing decisions. But perhaps they could diplomatically ask the referees' boss to clarify when the rule was introduced that penalties cannot be awarded for fouls on Sterling.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

The club could highlight it to fuck. They could complain and lodge protests with the pigmol guys, with the prem with UEFA/FIFA/The PM. Raise the profile of this story and at least fkin drive the refs to either, stop being biased against us, or stop making cock ups that goo against City.

As it is it is alll under the carpet with the media saying it is just "poor referee standards.... Poor reffing that has cost City the most impportant games this year!

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I think this is the muddying caused by the latest interpretation. When the ball went forward to Firmino, Lallana was in an offside position. The ball and a defender passed him putting him onside, but he still gained an advantage from having started in an offside position.

However, the new rules don't care about gaining an advantage, and forwards do it all the time to be a few yards ahead of the defenders. Aguero does it certainly.

This is the stupid thing about the new rule. Aguero could stand on the edge of the six-yard box for the whole game. Sterling or Sane could then beat the last defender on the half-way line and have a free run in the opposition half draw the keeper and pass to Aguero for a tap-in but as long as Aguero is behind the ball when it's played to him, then he's counted as being onside.

 

[Groke]

I am also bemused by the total lack of outrage or coverage of Monaco's first goal in the second leg where the Monaco player was clearly in an offside position blocking Caballero's view of the cross. How the linesman didn't flag for offside is beyond me, even more so when two additional Monaco players were also stood offside, albeit not interfering. The natural inclination of an unbiased official would be to flag surely?

The law states:

You are offside if you are:

• Interfering with an opponent by:
• preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision

On that basis, a clear offside.

The lack of knowledge of the laws of the game is astounding, not one pundit raised the point that Lallana was 5 yards offside when the ball was played. For a professional linesman it is as clear an offside as you are ever likely to get and yet all I hear is that it was a gilt edged chance.

We are being cheated game after game.

Haven't seen it since, but it looked like the linesman did flag.

 

[the_invisible_man]

Presumably the ref didn't see sterling get taken out on Sunday and if he would have he would have given a red and a penalty (you'd hope!). Should we not be seeing some retrospective action and a suspension for milner? Never happening though is it.

 

[Rolee]

This is the stupid thing about the new rule. Aguero could stand on the edge of the six-yard box for the whole game. Sterling or Sane could then beat the last defender on the half-way line and have a free run in the opposition half draw the keeper and pass to Aguero for a tap-in but as long as Aguero is behind the ball when it's played to him, then he's counted as being onside.

Wenger used it as a tactic going back a few years. Van Persie would loiter 3/4 yards offside, the ball would be played over the top for Walcott to chase out wide, by the time he was in a crossing position he'd have an unmarked Van Persie to aim at because the latter had a 3/4 yard headstart on the centre backs.

It's annoying but then so is getting called offside when you receive the ball centrally and one of your team mates is in an offside position by the corner flag.

 

[Hampy1970]

I think this is where Mourinho and Ferguson are/were so clever. By consistently highlighting poor refereeing performance they automatically sew a seed of doubt in the officials mind, such that when a decision is borderline, more often than not it goes in their direction. I don't believe refs are intentionally biased but they are persuaded (sublimely)to award in a certain direction. Consider our own managers approached Pelle never had a bad word to say and Pep is only now starting to express his frustration. Perhaps we need to pay a fine or two for more directly negative comments on refereeing performance, to help the worm start turning. Either that or we are going to continue to see poor decisions costing us in big games.

 

[City Hobgoblin]

Someone with the technical nous and a lot of time on their hands should compile a compendium of the stonewall penalties we have been denied over the past 3-4 seasons.

 

[fierydan]

in the last few seasons,Oliver has refused us 3 or even 4 stonewall penalties in an Etihad derby,(the one Kun scored and we won 1-0)missed Moreno chopping down Kun in last year`s League Cup Final for an obvious penalty and now Sunday`s failure to spot a pull back on Kun and kicking of Sterling`s foot for obvious penalty.
Is it feasible that one official can make so many mistakes honestly?