Looking back on the matches from the Easter weekend, I’m still annoyed. And it’s the lack of consistency in the refereeing in the Premier League that annoys me most. I don’t mind errors being made. Refs are only human, and they make mistakes.
You don’t expect all the players to go through the entire game without a single error, so why should we expect it of the officials?
But sometimes, there are some easy decisions that can be based on some really high profile precedents that are seemingly – and mystifyingly – ignored. The hands around the throat thing: it’s a red card. Unequivocally. It’s not hard.
It was a red card for Casemiro last February:
It was a red card for Rodri in September.
And… er… it wasn’t a red card for Calvin Bassey on Saturday.
And honestly, I really don’t understand why. Show me the difference in those three images.
There’s no point in crying over spilt milk, and that’s really not what I am doing here. I’ve seen enough decisions go for and against us over the n years I’ve been watching United to waste time, effort and pixels on that.
But we have a saying in our family: Everyone makes mistakes. It’s how you sort them out that matters.
And the most annoying thing is that nothing will be sorted out from this. Nothing will be learned. The next “hands around the throat” incident will result in a red card. Or it won’t. We really don’t know. Because exactly the same action is getting punished (or not) in different ways, despite the same laws apparently being applied.
Sometimes, things are tight (like those hands) and subjective and difficult to judge. I get that.
But this really isn’t one of them. Every Sunday league ref would get this one right.
And since the Premier League referees are full-time professionals with annual salaries well into into six figures, they really should be doing better.
Especially on the easy stuff like this.
