[Albion] Last night's officials

[Seagull58]

Is it
1. A conspiracy by EPL officials to favour Manchester United over a "team like Brighton"?
2. Subconscious bias towards United, fed and watered by Maguire and his teammates pressurising the ref while the crowd howls in the background?
3. Much ado about nothing; the red card for Dunk was correct, MacAllister wasn't fouled before the second goal, Fernandez was fouled and it was only right to let them take it quickly?

 

[albionfan37]

The Mac one at the end was the only really dubious decision

 

[Rookie]

They were just poor. no conspiracy, just poor

 

[Icy Gull]

Weak and intimidated. As for Townsend

 

[BNthree]

With most things I usually suspect incompetency over malicious intent. Same for the ref last night.

Can accept the red though don't agree but pissed off Shaw or Mctomlinson didn't get 2 yellows. Just crap inconsistency and deferring to the big team making lots of noise.

 

[zefarelly]

Officiating in the PL is bang average at best.

discussed agreed and confirmed ad nauseum every other game

 

[BN41Albion]

Lol at those saying subconscious bias. The last few years every team has been ****ed over/benefitted from var one way or another. In 2019/20 overall we benefitted the most from VAR decisions - we're hardly a big player in the PL

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/eng...affected-every-premier-league-club-in-2021-22

 

[Napier]

Incompetent, weak f*ckwits.

 

[Hamilton]

They just got it wrong. They get it wrong a lot.

 

[GT49er]

No plot or conspiracy - just a weak referee and a VAR who wanted to re-referee the match instead of only intervening when he should.

 

[dadams2k11]

Lol at those saying subconscious bias. The last few years every team has been ****ed over/benefitted from var one way or another. In 2019/20 overall we benefitted the most from VAR decisions - we're hardly a big player in the PL

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/eng...affected-every-premier-league-club-in-2021-22

This.

I don't buy into the refs are corrupt and favour the big teams.

Refs are human and will make mistakes in the split second they have to make a decision.

I read it on plenty of other (lower) teams forums and it makes me chuckle.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Not a conspiracy, but I do think that subconscious bias comes into it. To be honest I think the standard of officiating is pretty poor in the PL right now and that use and misuse of VAR has made it all too apparent.

 

[mothy]

I watched it on TV. Mostly sobre. The only error was var to call the decision a clear & obvious error

 

[Seagull58]

I watched it on TV. Mostly sobre. The only error was var to call the decision a clear & obvious error

No foul on Ali Mac before their second? No second yellow for Shaw? No second yellow for McTominey? Quite right to allow the quick free kick for their second after preventing us taking one earlier?

 

[jcdenton08]

No problems with the refereeing. It wasn't a foul on Ali Mac for their second, he slipped - I've watched it multiple times. He then grabs the ball to both try and persuade the referee but also prevent a quick freekick. The freekick was then taken from the exact point of the handball, allowing a quick freekick. Our quick freekick a few minutes earlier had been taken about 15 yards away from the correct position, with the ref having his back turned running the diagonal.

McTominay was edging the line towards the end but there was no single foul or incident which was enough for a second yellow.

Overall I thought he had a good game. The refs didn't cost us the game, our wasteful finishing and a dreadful first 5 minutes of the second half did.

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

Dermot Gallagher shows what an eejit he is though. He fully backs the red card and VAR. He several times mentions how the VAR ref has really helped Stuart Attwell come to his decision. That may well be true but as the pitch ref was Peter Bankes I’m not sure Attwell’s view is particularly relevant! Tw*t!!

 

[Stato]

Lol at those saying subconscious bias. The last few years every team has been ****ed over/benefitted from var one way or another. In 2019/20 overall we benefitted the most from VAR decisions - we're hardly a big player in the PL

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/eng...affected-every-premier-league-club-in-2021-22

The question posed was about the officials, not specifically VAR. If we accept that VAR was brought in to correct decisions, what you reference actually just shows which teams were the victim of the most incorrect on field decisions. There is certainly evidence of refereeing bias towards more successful teams. Here's a study from Norway published in 2020: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.00019/full The study doesn't draw conclusions about motivation, but does talk about the pressure that home fans and the prestige of the bigger clubs puts upon those officiating.

Other than last night, off the top of my head, in recent games against United, I can remember:

Maguire's foul on Welbeck away last season;
Bong being fouled by Lukaku;
Maguire fouling Connolly twice at home in the 2-3. One over-turned, one not given;
Maguire's two handed foul on Dunk on the og in that game;
Unaccounted for additional time after our equaliser in the same game.

All contentious decisions that went their way. It may be my blue and white striped resentment, but I can't remember anything similar that went our way.

 

[Baldseagull]

Lol at those saying subconscious bias. The last few years every team has been ****ed over/benefitted from var one way or another. In 2019/20 overall we benefitted the most from VAR decisions - we're hardly a big player in the PL

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/eng...affected-every-premier-league-club-in-2021-22

It isn't as straightforward as simply counting the overturns, and saying you benefitted from VAR most or least. And if the bias exists in the on pitch ref, you would expect VAR to give teams like us more any way. Things like offsides where the linesman doesn't flag because it's close have VAR deciding instead, whereas in the past the linesman may well have flagged, and I saw one of these where they claimed someone had benefitted from a free kick decision that VAR gave, when the ref had given a penalty!

 

[Stato]

Lets play Dermot Gallagher spot the difference:


On field decision in favour of United:
"VAR can't intervene because (of it) being a subjective decision": https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/12266495/ref-watch-sympathy-for-dean-at-old-trafford

On field decision in favour of Brighton:
"Has an obvious goalscoring opportunity been denied? That depends on whether you consider Webster is coming across."
https://www.skysports.com/football/...g-to-intervene-and-send-off-brighton-defender

Of course all he ever does is back up whatever decisions were made by his former cronies, but I'd like to see him put on the spot and hear the weasel words he would use to explain how 'depends on whether you consider' is not subjective... and if it is, why VAR can now intervene when it couldn't last season.

 

[Baldseagull]

Only Ref I ever suspected of having taken a bribe was Phil Prosser. I just thought last night he was a bit weak with McTominay and should have given him a card sooner for persistent fouling, and maybe was swayed by the game being at Old Trafford and tantrums from Utd players more than his second look at things to give Dunk a red.