There are some things that are normal in life – England losing on penalty shootouts, Petr Cech failing to save a penalty, Harry Kane always opening his mouth during a game, Carlo Ancelotti raising his eyebrow during an interview. I guess you can add a Premier League manager earning himself a touchline ban following a rant about referees to this list. Arsene Wenger has been given a three match touchline ban as well as a fine for ‘abusive behavior and questioning the integrity of Mike Dean’ following his shitefest at the Hawthorns last week.
I don’t want to re-visit the incident as I touched on it a few days ago, but I feel that something needs to be done about these referees and their terrible officiating in the Premier League. I went on Squawka the other day and was glancing through the 15 Worst Premier League Refereeing Decisions in 2016 and I wasn’t surprised one bit. In the Manchester City vs Everton game, Raheem Sterling was clearly scythed down by John Stones in stoppage time but Roger East waved the City penalty appeals away. There were many other incidents that turned out to be the difference between a victory and a draw but as always, the FA tends to turn a blind eye to referees incapable of handling their duties adequately.
Watching the Tottenham vs West Ham game showed how Mike Dean was under pressure not to make any more high profile decisions as he has been under the spotlight in recent weeks. Yes, he’s the experienced ref from the lot but that doesn’t exempt him from their usual ‘demotion to the Championship’ following a poor outing. I even feel it’s totally unfair to the second division having a Premier League ref that is handling a match in their league because he performed poorly in the elite league. I’d prefer if that ref sits out a few games for a week or two, so that he can reflect on what he has done.
The idea of having VAR in the Carabao Cup semifinals will be welcome. In the recently concluded pulsating encounter between Arsenal and Chelsea, Eden Hazard, hit the deck after Hector Bellerin clipped his heel but he held his shin like he’d been gunned down with a sawn-off shotgun. This is the kinda cheating VAR can easily spot and he’d be made to look like the fool for the remainder of the game, with the shame so much he would require a nun to follow him around the pitch and ring a bell Game of Thrones style. But no, we had to watch Anthony Taylor make a very poor refereeing decision to award a penalty to Chelsea, bring them back into the game. Hello VAR, where have you been all my life?
Wenger would be unavailable for the FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest, the Carabao Cup semifinal against Chelsea and the Premier League encounter against Bournemouth, but with the improvements in communication, I’m pretty sure he’d be able to communicate with Steve Bould to pass instructions accordingly. At least, Bouldy will do something more than just chewing his gum. Arsenal’s FA Cup opponents have wasted no time in offering him a cheeky hospitality invitation, to make his touchline ban a little more worthwhile.
Maybe he’d stick to his word and attend George Weah’s inauguration ceremony or something.
Sayonara.
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