Jeff Winter is back to analyse another incident-filled weekend in the Premier League, which included a deserved red card, successful advantage benefitting Liverpool and a controversial disallowed goal at Molineux.
Jeff Winter, who is a former Premier League & FA Cup Final referee shared his thoughts on the weekends action.
Jeff told that Southampton’s disallowed goal vs Wolves was the “perfect example of VAR not working”, how Ryan Yates was “fortunate” not to see red and how David Coote almost got Liverpool’s opening goal spot on.
Table of Contents
Former Premier League referee analyses the weekends biggest decisions including WOL v SOU, LIV v AVL & TOT v IPS
Wolves v Southampton
Jeff Winter: “We say this week after week, why does VAR get involved? There was a coming together and the referee looked to be perfectly placed. He’s made his decision just like any referee for centuries has ever done, and then VAR gets involved”.
“Thomas Bramall is a relatively new referee to the Premier League, so again we go over the same old ground. I don’t know who the VAR referee was, presumably they were someone senior to him, and he’s put him under the pressure of going across and looking for something. If anything, the contact was the other way around and it was minimal, accidental. The goal should definitely have stood. I just don’t know why VAR have got involved”.
“I don’t know why they’ve put that unnecessary pressure on a relatively new Premier League referee. People always say “the referee cost us with that decision”, we never know what would have happened after that, but at that stage of the game, it was a vital decision”.
“Some people might argue and say these decisions even themselves out, and should we really be dissecting one decision in 90 minutes? When even in the build up to that goal, there was possibly a couple of fouls before the ball even got to the penalty area? How far are we going to go back, you know?”
“But for me, there was no decision to be made. The referee had a perfect view of it and it’s like we’re going over the same old ground. Obvious error? That wasn’t an obvious error! It was his opinion; my opinion might be different”.
“I know the some of the pundits and those working for PGMOL love to bleat a perfect example of VAR working well, well here we go, this was a perfect example of VAR not working”.
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Build-up to Darwin Nunez’s opening goal:
Jeff Winter: “Leon Bailey couldn’t be sent off in the terms of the tackle, because if you’re talking about denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity, he didn’t deny an obvious goal scoring opportunity”.
“He most certainly tried to. If the referee had blown the whistle, then he would have denied it. But the fact the referee was, on his toes on this occasion, he played the advantage”.
“Can you imagine the furore if the referee had blown up, then the ball ends up in the back of the net and they get a free kick? Alright, he gets a red card, but then they get a free-kick, 25/30 yards away from goal”.
“It was good refereeing in this instance. He made the right decision in allowing the game to continue, because if it was a serious foul-play challenge, then there’s an argument for not allowing the game to continue because the ball doesn’t end up in the net, and then you’ve got 20 players brawling”.
“But in not going back and cautioning him, he’s got that one wrong. He might have been basking in the reflective glory of what a brilliant advantage Liverpool have scored because, as referees, there’s nothing better than playing an advantage and the ball ends up in the net”.
“But you mustn’t abdicate your responsibilities. So, there’s a big plus for the referee in allowing Liverpool the advantage, but also a significant minus because, those sorts of challenges, the cynical ones, have got to be punished”.
On Ollie Watkins’ tussle with Ibrahima Konate:
Jeff Winter: “There was a shoulder-to-shoulder in the penalty area with Konate and Ollie Watkins, where the Villa striker throws himself down, like he’s doing a Tom Daley. He would’ve been proud of it”.
“That I’m afraid doesn’t help the player. It’s never going help the attacking player because if the referee is a yard or two either way, slightly hasn’t got the best view of the incident and he sees a player make an exaggerated fall. That’s not going to work in his favour. It’s going to go against him”.
On Pau Torres’ penalty claim against Conor Bradley:
“I’m getting confused now because to me, holding is holding. But now it’s got to be significant holding or some other new term that they’ve come up with. You’re not allowed to hold an opponent in the penalty area, end of. Whether it’s for two seconds”.
“If I pull your shirt that instantaneously has an effect on you, it prevents you from moving. So, the fact that it’s only for a second or a millisecond as opposed to what we sometimes see, the all-in embrace, it’s still holding”.
“There was there was holding going on in the box and Pau Torres got brought down. But I didn’t think it was a penalty, so on those ones it’s the referees call, he’s close and there’s no need for VAR to intervene”.
Tottenham v Ipswich
On Dominic Solanke’s disallowed goal for handball:
Jeff Winter: “This is one of those that in the old days was much simpler”.
“Back then, handball had to be deliberate and Solanke did not deliberately handle the ball. But the laws and the interpretations now are quite clear that if the person who scores the goal, the ball hits his hand on the way, that is penalised”.
“And as long as that’s being done consistently and we’re all aware of it, a manager can’t turn round and say, well, ‘we had one given against us last week and this week, it wasn’t given for us’”.
“It’s unfortunate for Solanke, if it hit any other part of his body, it’s a goal. But I don’t referees always manage to see this close up, but TV cameras managed to focus on, is the guilty look in the face of the player. I think Solanke probably half knew that one was going to be chalked off”.
Nottingham Forest v Newcastle
Jeff Winter: “With this one it has you thinking, when does VAR get involved?”
“The temperature in those few seconds after the incident went right through the roof, because there was another foul seconds later where I think the Newcastle players sought a little bit of retribution, and that was seen and given”.
“As I understand it, VAR is supposed to be looking at all red card offences now. Was that a red card offence? I would say at the very least it was a yellow card.”
“This is one of those where you’re thinking if it falls into the orange category,
And are we re-refereeing the game? That’s my frustration, what is and what isn’t? And if the referees don’t have it fully explained to them and aren’t aware, then what is going on? They should know, and the VAR”.
“So, we just get this lack of consistency from one tackle one week to another tackle the other. With this example, it was almost in a previous phase of play.”
“But Livramento has gone to the deck and there appears to be the use of an elbow.
Somebody far how higher up the food chain than has decided it’s not and we’re all left scratching our heads. I think he was very fortunate.”
Brighton v Manchester City
Josko Gvardiol handball to deny Danny Welbeck
Jeff Winter: “I’m happy with that decision because if a player has gone to ground, he’s not acting like a goalkeeper and he hasn’t got his arms up in the air, I always used to call that the “Schmeichel” where he spread himself and made himself bigger. He’s fell to the floor, his arms are on the floor, if he extended his arm and makes a save, that’s going to be penalised”.
“But despite the ball hitting his hand, that didn’t register with me as being worthy of second look”.
“I would love but I’m never ever going to get the invite, be a fly on the wall of what goes on all the time in these VAR booths because it must be a nightmare job”.
“The game’s still going on and you’re looking back, you’re under pressure. The same pressure that the referee has to make an instant decision, you can imagine the VAR is sat there and life is all of a sudden going very, very quickly cause in you’re thinking ‘I’ve got to make a decision, let me look at it, because if we don’t look at it properly, it’s going to be people like me on a Monday morning calling them’”.
“So it’s not, it’s not a job I would fancy at all to be quite honest. But you know, on this occasion, I think it was, it was correct”.
Crystal Palace v Fulham
“That was a terrible tackle. I don’t think you need VAR to get involved with something as clear as this. In fact, I think the referee was on the job there, red card out straight away.”
“They’re the easy ones. In fairness, nobody likes to send a player off, but when they’re as clear cut as that I’m afraid, there’s nothing to talk about on that one”.
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