Poor officiating has always been like the fungus that engulfs your bread. Be it a ref or linesman’s wrong calls in football or an umpire’s highly questionable LBW decision in cricket and so on. While having a tussle between themselves regarding a  goal-line clearance, Zeus and Poseidon decided that it would be best if they had a third party, who wasn’t directly involved in the play, who makes a call when the decision is beyond the obvious or involved a potential disagreement. So they called up the sleeping brother Hades, whom they offered the role as the God of Hell in return for acting as a referee and a pacifier for the brothers while they play.
The FA have a job preventing massive [fun]-ups by the referee. But we all know they’re just a bunch of ‘tw*ts’, as Mr.Cole enlightened us. Time and time again, refereeing gaffes have cost us an absolute spectacle. For example, Howard Webb, officiating in United’s big games, has more often than not made a controversial decision that most other refs wouldn’t have, hilariously, most of them in United’s favour. This has led to him becoming referred to as a United fan as well as accusations that the refs and the FA are corrupt. But this is not so.
There are many other factors for which refs tend to incline towards United even in a few no-brainer decisions against them. Sir Alex Ferguson, though an absolute genius and a legend of the game, is very intimidating towards the officials. If a referee manages to cross Fergie, it’s hell for him. The ref doesn’t get to manage United’s games for several months, he is sent to the lower divisions for a week or two et cetera. This makes a ref face a psychological barrier before giving decisions against United. Is that corruption? Hell, no !
This past season alone, refereeing gaffes have ruined many games, be it the Clattenburg-officiated Chelsea vs. United game, or the Suarez bite incident where he scored a 97th minute winner when he shouldn’t have been on the pitch. Similarly, against Chelsea, Ferdinand hacked Torres down onto the ground and the ref overlooked it. When the matter was brought up to the FA, who were constantly begging Ferdinand to be in the squad for England’s next game, he was let off. Ironically for the FA, Rio backed out of the England game citing personal reasons(though he was doing commentary for the same game, the nut). What’s worse is that, some referees are known for constant gaffes of a Batshit proportion and yet find themselves officiating almost every week. Yes, Chris Foy, I’m talking about you. He has delivered a cluster[fun] amount of matches where he had committed a glaring mistake or many. Be it a red card for Kompany against Nani and United for a clean dispossessing tackle, or the famously infamous Chelsea vs. QPR game or the more recent Aguero lunge on Luiz in the FA Cup semifinal. A two footed flying flunge. ON MY BELOVED LUIZ ! Aguero went unpunished, and Foy clarified to the FA that he had indeed seen the incident and decided it was not worthy of punitive measures. Luiz let it go calling it Aguero’s ‘five-second angry’, but I, not being as generous as Luiz, have still not forgiven the Argentine.
How about actually breaking down and analysing a game where a ref’s incompetence changed the course of the game? Which game to pick? Which game better than the Chelsea vs. United game featuring the Clattenburg-gate ! This was very well shaping on to be the best game of the season so far until the game got Clattenburg’d. United, playing amazingly well, took an early two goal lead. Chelsea came back into it, scoring two, but unfortunately got two players sent off and then United went on to score an offside goal through Chicharito and clinched the game. Let’s do a break-dance, followed by a break-down of the game.
Superficially, these stats say that Chelsea and United had an incredibly competitive and fierce game that was either side’s to win right from kickoff. Sadly, that’s not quite the case. It was a game of two phases. Two extremely polar phases. For the first 30 minutes or so, Chelsea were sleeping. In fact, right from the very first minute, Ashley Cole said screw you to defending and was standing right next to the adorably-bearded Eden Hazard. Fergie playing the intelligent Valencia on the right wing and also the marauding Rafael teaming up with him plus Rooney dropping sideways to triple up, were bound to cause a truckloadful bundles of attack from that wing. It materialised, and United scored two VERY early goals before Chelsea started showing signs of waking up. Here, I’m going to offer a complete breakdown of the goals scored by the teams plus the two farcical red cards.
Both teams lined up in the highly anticipated lineups. Chelsea, with Torres ahead of the fluent Mazacar, Mikel and Ramires in the pivot and the usual back four. United had their talismanic striker, van Persie, leading the line with Rooney close behind in support. The fact that Ashley Cole was constantly out of position is illustrated in this pic, as early as 2:14 where Cole is drawn way too wide, breaking the cohesion of the back four.
Van Persie Shot :
Luiz commits himself to the challenge too early, leaving RvP just a smart turn away from a shooting opportunity. The kind of form he was in, he didn’t pass up on the opportunity. Now, the point stands that in this situation, if Ashley had been in his position, he would have been able to do nothing to stop the rocket-launcher of a left foot from unleashing a pile-driver that Cech held comfortably. But what it highlights is that cohesion in the back four was lacking. Would Chelsea be made to pay for this? LOL, yes. Twice. In the next nine minutes, that too.
David Luiz Own-Goal :
United punish Chelsea on the counter after the ball is lost up the field as Hazard tried to play a high-risk pass to Mata when safer options were available plus the move wouldn’t have benefited much had Mata received the ball without any pressure. As to why he lost the ball in that position is highly questionable, as a player of his intelligence is supposed to not commit such errors. Ashley Cole, who had still not recovered from the RvP shot half a minute ago, was again caught high up the field. Valencia played the ball to Rooney, the lead-star of Shrek, who put the ball in for Van Persie. Van Persie did what he does best. Hit the ball well.
The ball hit the post, ricocheted off Luiz and sneaked in. GOAL ! A mistake by Chelsea’s most intelligent players, featuring  the world’s best left-back out of his position.
Van Persie Goal :
Chelsea were high up the field, falling back after a Torres counter attack. A Rio Ferdinand long pass to Rafael caught them out. Ashley Cole, as has been highlighted had to scamper to cover Rafael as the attacking trio were too busy being lazy. That freed up half an acre of space for the clever Valencia. Rafael played in the ball to him. Valencia played in a fantastic low cross to RvP. And….GOLAZO ! 2-0 up inside 12 minutes. With Chelsea showing no signs of waking up, United looked set to run away with the game. Â What one noticed on second viewing is that RvP was initially sandwiched between Cahill and Ivanovic, but both the defenders carried their run towards the goal without noticing the shrewd striker had dropped back, leaving him to guide the Valencia cross past Cech.
Rooney Takes Hazard Bait :
Rooney, having nearly dispossessed Hazard, was running away with the ball but the fleet-footed Eden Hazard used tremendous upper-body strength and balance to snatch the ball back from Rooney. On a sidenote, I’ve always expressed my displeasure at the sight of Rooney is a Chelsea shirt. For the obvious reasons. A four-year old can provoke the shit out of him. And so did Hazard’s tackle.
Rooney committed himself to a tackle from behind on Hazard, resulting in a Chelsea free kick. This is an aspect that Rooney has to work on is he is to join any big club apart from United. But for now, I had no complaints. Chelsea had a free kick in dangerous territory !
Mata Free Kick Goal :
Up stepped the bearded genius Juan Mata to take the free kick. And as they say, rest was history. GGGGOOOOAAALLLL ! Were there any chanced of a comeback? Let’s see.
Meanwhile :
Chelsea dominated possession in the first half, primarily because they needed to get back into the game than anything else. Despite their triumvirate behind Torres, they struggled to make significant chances in open play, partly because they had trouble working the ball into the the proper spaces. United stayed tight in front of the defence, but not for the first time in the season Chelsea lacked quality passing from central midfield, and were slow at playing the initial forward pass into the final third. United were set up to soak pressure up from the centre and counter through the wings, that’s exactly what they did.
Ramires Goal :
After a spell of ping pong between Mata and Oscar, Ramires was in the right place at the right time to nod the ball past De Gea. This goal was coming. Chelsea, as noted above, were enjoying long spells of possession. Surely a winner was coming, unless something dramatic happened….
Momentum Of The Game Swinging :
Like a pre-set pattern, United dropped back after scoring two goals as Chelsea dominated. Now that Chelsea had two goals for themselves, their period of dominance ended. This clearly was shaping on to be the game of the season where after two phases of dominance all was level and anyone could still clinch it. But then…
Cometh The Moment, Cometh The Man :
Ashley Young was released by a pass through on goal, Ivanovic, the last man tried to go around him in order to cover. On first viewing, it looked as if Ivanovic tripped Young, for which he seemed to have been rightly sent off. Until, one saw the replays…..
If I were the referee I would always have second thoughts giving a foul against Young, such has been his reputation. His antics, such as diving without ANY contact puts the game in shame. A gifted player, but questionable footballing character.
Sir Alex pounced upon this opportunity to bring on The Little Pea Hernandez. 11 vs 10.
If you thought that was the only bit on Clattenburg’s brainfarting, you were in for more !
Minutes after the Ivanovic red card, Torres was given a second yellow for the incredible crime of being fouled by Jonny Evans. Think that was a dive from Nando? Check again.
There are arguments that the contact was very minor, not major enough to prompt that fall from Torres. To all those people, kindly make a person tackle you like that while you’re running at top speed. Trust me, it’s painful for the next few seconds. Considering that, I feel Torres going tumbling was fair reaction. Even if the referee was divided between if it was a foul or dive, he shouldn’t have produced the second yellow without being 100% sure. Either way you see it, it’s either a shit decision or a harsh one.
Hernandez Offside Goal :
Carrick, United’s best player of the season played a defense-splitting pass to van Persie. It was always obvious what RvP would do now. A cut inside onto his favourite left foot and a low, weak but precise shot left Petr Cech scampering. After a maximum possible outstretch, Cech managed to get a palm on to the ball. While the power of the shot was drained by Cech’s gloves, the ball was still trickling towards the goal. Every foot the ball moved, my heart sheared bit by bit. At the verge of collapsing of my heart, Petr slapped the ball away from goal. It fell to Rafael. Meanwhile, Chicharito was still INSIDE the Chelsea goal. Just when he was getting up, Rafael took the shot. A snap of when Rafael took the shot will show he was offside when the shot was taken.
Offside? Yes ! See how refereeing incompetence ruined the game. This was so much like a Picasso artwork being stabbed by a knife. THRICE ! However, to a football fan’s liking, it happens way too often. Here’s how the table would’ve looked if the decisions had gone the correct way, thanks to Debatable Decisions.
This table is a work of art, and echoes all sentiments. While human errors will always be a part of the game, technology, wherever available should be used to provide a fair game. For example, TV replays are available on the giant screen in the stadium, so the ref, having his ego in check, should just look up and see if the decision he made was correct and if not then correct it ! It would just end up building up a better fanbase like tennis has since the advent of Hawk-Eye and cricket since the Third Umpire. I repeat, human errors shall always be a part of the game, but it’s better to correct those that simply destroy the game !
