[Football] Yellow card consistency

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

I watched our game on Saturday and was struck, like most of us, by the yellow cards given for time wasting. Harsh, but "refs clamping down" and consistently applied to both sides.

Ok. I'll accept that. And in a few months, all teams will be dealing with yellow card accumulation suspensions, but at least we'll have stamped out standing in front of the ball, kicking or throwing the ball away and so on.

This only works though if it is consistently applied. Those who got to watch other Prem games this weekend, was it? Did big club players get away with it? Did the snide clubs (I'm looking at you Palace and Villa) avoid punishment? Were refs consistent from game to game?

 

[Gazwag]

Clearly not looking at last nights game, although strangly not favouring the big side

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Clearly not looking at last nights game, although strangly not favouring the big side

I haven't seen any other games this weekend, but having seen us play, I have a sneaking suspicion that not all games will have been refed so vigorously.

And it's probably not going to be a big club v little club bias as much as consistency across referees. Interested to hear what people have observed.

 

[Neil]

they sent off the Arsenal for 2 yellows , the 2nd yellow was for a very slight shirtgrab but a minute later another Arsenal did a more blatent shirtgrab and gets no card. Where's the consistancy

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

For the Arsenal player’s second yellow the ref was conned by the Palace player. There was no shirt pull. These things will happen all the time football players are cheating scumbags. Could easily have been the other way around in another match, so tough. The first yellow was fully justified imo. The commentators tried a bit of whataboutery basis him wasting 8 seconds and the teammate who gave him the ball taking 15 seconds. That was another deliberate attempted conning of the ref. They won’t fall for that because it will lead to 10 players all wasting 10 seconds instead of anyone taking a throw. I think the new guidelines are working well. The atmosphere on the pitch is improving. It will just take some more time for all thicko players to get it.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

they sent off the Arsenal for 2 yellows , the 2nd yellow was for a very slight shirtgrab but a minute later another Arsenal did a more blatent shirtgrab and gets no card. Where's the consistancy

But that's foul play isn't it? That's been in the rules for ages. I'm interested in the time wasting yellows that were so vigorously issued in our game and whether they have been applied in other games.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Didn’t watch last night, but it isn’t being applied consistently, see Chelsea vs West Ham, and wasn’t on Saturday either in our game.

As I said at the time, anything we can do to stop the Villa’s, Brentford’s and Newcastle’s time wasting is positive, but on Saturday Maddeley seemed to be doing this at the expense of allowing blatant foul play.

The referee’s number one priority should always be player safety.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Watching Match of the Day, I was struck by the fact the first piece of action in the Liverpool vs Bournemouth game, showed Gakpo and Diaz standing over Bournemouth's freekick to prevent a forward pass.

No Card, No warning. The Bournemouh player was forced to pass the ball backwards.
OK there was no intent to waste time, but that was also the case when Pascal kicked the ball away vs Wolves.
The big 6 bias will be maintained. The new laws will affect us more than them.
It was ever thus.

 

[Icy Gull]

Watching Match of the Day, I was struck by the fact the first piece of action in the Liverpool vs Bournemouth game, showed Gakpo and Diaz standing over Bournemouth's freekick to prevent a forward pass.

No Card, No warning. The Bournemouh player was forced to pass the ball backwards.
OK there was no intent to waste time, but that was also the case when Pascal kicked the ball away vs Wolves.
The big 6 bias will be maintained. The new laws will affect us more than them.
It was ever thus.

Pascal kicked the ball away to avoid a quick throw in though, deserved yellow with the new laws.

Pedro got booked for standing over the ball, be interesting to see if this law is enforced when others do it, from what you say it wasn’t for Liverpool.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Pascal kicked the ball away to avoid a quick throw in though, deserved yellow with the new laws.

Pedro got booked for standing over the ball, be interesting to see if this law is enforced when others do it, from what you say it wasn’t for Liverpool.

Quite. But I can't believe that Pascal and Julio were the only two players to kick the ball away this weekend. Did all the others get booked? (I genuinely don't know and would be interested to hear if someone has looked into this).

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Pascal kicked the ball away to avoid a quick throw in though, deserved yellow with the new laws.

Pedro got booked for standing over the ball, be interesting to see if this law is enforced when others do it, from what you say it wasn’t for Liverpool.

Which was exactly what Gakpo/Diaz were doing. Clear as day on the MoTD highlights.

 

[Seaview Seagull]

Blimey it's a bit early to decide its All failing and inconsistent and big club bias! If you want absolute consistency we better replace refs with AI. Refs lest we forget are human beings with the possibilities of different views of the same incident. Let's at least wait and see for a few more weeks before pontificating!

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Blimey it's a bit early to decide its All failing and inconsistent and big club bias! If you want absolute consistency we better replace refs with AI. Refs lest we forget are human beings with the possibilities of different views of the same incident. Let's at least wait and see for a few more weeks before pontificating!

Sure we can wait, if you like.
That's worked well with VAR

 

[Icy Gull]

Blimey it's a bit early to decide its All failing and inconsistent and big club bias! If you want absolute consistency we better replace refs with AI. Refs lest we forget are human beings with the possibilities of different views of the same incident. Let's at least wait and see for a few more weeks before pontificating!

Having seen 8 (?) bookings in our game I am already interested, it’s not like it was a dirty game! No complaints from me as long as all refs are doing it. Kicking the ball away or standing over it at a free kick are very very easy to spot aren’t they? In fact I am in favour of bookings for this. Villa fans might feel differently

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Having seen 8 (?) bookings in our game I am already interested, it’s not like it was a dirty game! No complaints from me as long as all refs are doing it. Kicking the ball away or standing over it at a free kick are very very easy to spot aren’t they? In fact I am in favour of bookings for this. Villa fans might feel differently

This!

The example I posted above, reaffirms my view on the unconscious bias prevalent in the Premier League.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Having seen 8 (?) bookings in our game I am already interested, it’s not like it was a dirty game! No complaints from me as long as all refs are doing it. Kicking the ball away or standing over it at a free kick are very very easy to spot aren’t they? In fact I am in favour of bookings for this. Villa fans might feel differently

Exactly this. It was so noteworthy in what was not on the least bit a dirty game. That's why I'm asking. The measure of this won't take weeks to observe. Did every other player who wasted time get booked? I haven't seen the other games but I'll bet they didn't.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Which was exactly what Gakpo/Diaz were doing. Clear as day on the MoTD highlights.

Which just means that one ref did what was required and one didn’t. Booking Gross was the correct decision. I think that generally there has been a big clampdown which will improve the game overall. Just because you can find a few examples where it hasn’t been enforced doesn’t change that. Nothing’s perfect.

 

[Horses Arse]

But that's foul play isn't it? That's been in the rules for ages. I'm interested in the time wasting yellows that were so vigorously issued in our game and whether they have been applied in other games.

Ayew clung on, dragged back and spun round an arsenal player whilst on a yellow. Ref just let that go.

That meant he was on the pitch still to dive when he was brushed up against. Dived rather that continue down the wing to attack arsenal's goal.

Shocking attitude to football at that cesspit and shocking officiating.

Plus, if they are going to brandish yellows as frequently as they are then VAR needs to start reviewing them too or they'll be sending offs every game.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Which just means that one ref did what was required and one didn’t. Booking Gross was the correct decision. I think that generally there has been a big clampdown which will improve the game overall. Just because you can find a few examples where it hasn’t been enforced doesn’t change that. Nothing’s perfect.

Nothings perfect and human error is part of the game. Agreed. But showing down the game by kicking a ball away or throwing it away or standing in front of a free kick are unarguable and not open to interpretation. Nor is a player waving an imaginary yellow card.

Booking Gross was the correct decision, but all I'm asking is was it applied universally this weekend? If not, why not? What possible excuse could a ref have for missing it if these are the new rules? It was applied to the very letter of the law in our game to the point that there were eight yellow cards. Did this happen in other games?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Which just means that one ref did what was required and one didn’t. Booking Gross was the correct decision. I think that generally there has been a big clampdown which will improve the game overall. Just because you can find a few examples where it hasn’t been enforced doesn’t change that. Nothing’s perfect.

I'm not arguing against the change in the recommended approach.
The reality is that unconscious bias is a factor in Premier League officiating.

I agree with the changes, but recognise that consistency is the biggest challenge in the division.
Unconscious bias will lead to 14 clubs seeing this new approach executed more precisely than the other 6, in my opinion.