Posts Tagged ‘Mark Halsey’
Referees confused over Liverpool v Spurs penalties prove VAR is rubbish
More reaction to Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Spurs. No VAR was used in the match, which featured two penalties for Spurs. It might have been three pens had the referee not spotted that Dele Alli dived. Liverpool were aggrieved by the decisions. Spurs were elated. Would VAR have helped? Well, that depends on which referee is sat in a sealed box reviewing the action on the telly.
NO pens says retired ref Mark Halsey in the Sun:
“HARRY KANE was in an offside position for the first penalty. Yes, the ball has come off Dejan Lovren before falling to Kane, but the Liverpool defender has tried to clear the ball knowing that Kane is behind him – and not knowing if the Spurs striker is offside or not. So Kane has clearly impacted on the Liverpool man, thus interfering with an opponent. The assistant should have flagged at this point so the Loris Karius foul is immaterial.”
YES pens says former ref Graham Poll in the Mail: “Assistant Eddie Smart got Tottenham’s penalty decisions spot-on… it topped a good afternoon for referee Jon Moss and his officials at Liverpool.”
Well done Eddie Smart. The assistant got involved in both penalty decisions and he was right to do so. For the first penalty, he called for Jon Moss because Harry Kane was in an offside position and Smart could not be clear whether a Liverpool player had touched the ball before the Tottenham striker was fouled.
They discussed the situation and Moss decided that Dejan Lovren had played the ball, which meant Kane was onside before being taken down by Loris Karius…
And then Smart persuaded the referee, deep into stoppage time, to award the second penalty to Spurs.
To the naked eye it looked as if Erik Lamela had dived. People who had seen it numerous times on TV replays could not be sure, but Smart was. And he was right.
YES pens says former ref Dermot Gallagher on Sky:
“In the debrief after the game, they’ll be told that they made the big, match-changing decisions correct on the day.”
NO pens says ref Mark Clattenburg on the Times:First penalty
Pen 1. Was it offside?
This should not have been a penalty because it was offside….Second penalty
Pen 2.
This a tough decision. I believe that there is a suspicion of offside in the build up to the penalty. The ball is touched by Fernando Llorente and into Érik Lamela, who is fractionally offside in my opinion. As we have seen with VAR now, offside is a matter of fact and no benefit is given to the attacking team. Therefore, the penalty should not have been allowed. Once the offside is missed, It looks as though Virgil van Dijk goes to kick the ball and then tries to pull away his leg, but there is a still a bit of contact. It is a soft penalty, but not definitely a wrong call.
Clear as mud, then. Just the way we like it.
Posted: 5th, February 2018 | In: Back pages, Broadsheets, Liverpool, Sports, Spurs, Tabloids | Comment
Chelsea and Manchester United have lost a true pal in referee Mark Halsey
FORMER Premier League referee Mark Halsey is selling his life story in the Sun and a book, and working as a rules pundit on BT Sport. Given that refs are routinely called biased and some countries have had issues with officials being bribed, Halsey comes across as bit of a berk. If he had a personal relationship with Chelsea manager Joe Mourinho, as he said, did the manager pick players the ref admires or wants to meet? Will jokes that if “Halsey stays fit United can go the season unbeaten” be rooted in something more sinister than rival fans’ bitterness at a perceived injustice? If there is one thing we at Anorak dislike and distrust more than the official who brings you to book it is the official who wants to be your pal. Matt Dickinson is unimpressed with Halsey, writing in the Times:
It started, as perhaps these things do, with an innocent cup of tea some years ago. Mark Halsey arrived early at Stamford Bridge to officiate at a Chelsea game. José Mourinho invited him in for a chat. A few months later it had developed to full-blown hugging, with Mourinho embracing Halsey after the Community Shield. Halsey delighted in that squeeze and the whispered post-match compliment in his ear. …When Halsey’s wife, Michelle, was found to have myeloid leukaemia, the Portuguese paid out of his own pocket for Halsey and his family to stay at a five-star hotel in the Algarve. “Obviously,” Halsey said, “I wouldn’t have gone if he’d still been at Chelsea. But what can you say? He’s been an absolute inspiration.” How touching. Only a cynic could look at such a close friendship and think it brought into question both men’s professional judgment. Only a nasty sceptic could doubt a referee who thinks it appropriate to accept thousands of pounds’ worth of gifts.
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The Sun says Premier League offered referee Mark Halsey hush money: newspaper did not hack his phone
THE Sun is serialising Surviving cancer, death threats and the Premier League, by former Premier League football referee Mark Halsey.
The paper trails the book by telling Sun readers:
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