We all hope that the officials get things right in games and if anything favour your team, but there are games where as a fan you just feel you are not getting a fair deal and Callum Wilson's fury at not being awarded a penalty for Luke Shaw's antics in the box was rightly felt. Eddie Howe commented after the game that you need those big decisions to go for you in these games. A penalty and a red card would have been a big ticket towards a point for the Cherries or something even better.
Bournemouth wanted to score goals, but they wanted to achieve goals in other ways rather than relying on a decision for a spot kick. But this was an infringement that was something that you would have hoped the assistant referee would have picked up on from his angle. When keepers and defenders go down the whistle soon comes to their rescue, but for strikers there is less room for officials to be brave. You need brave officials, but you can't rely on getting them in games where they are most needed.
The incident in this match could have changed the whole outcome of the game, but we'll never know and in an instance the match had the route back for AFCB removed. Wilson will have hoped he'd have made just the merest of contact on the ball, as it was such a good delivery.
It won't do Bournemouth any good though to mull on this one decision too long. They have to focus on the next game and how they can still make a difference to their season. Wilson can feel rightly aggrieved but that's all he can get out of the situation.
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| Wilson was clearly held back by Luke Shaw's challenge. |
The fast-pace of the game is making it difficult for officials to be on top of everything and while I am sure they want to be objective and give fair decisions, the big teams are likely to be seen as teams benefiting most from close calls, because they have stayed at the top year after year. If decisions don't go for your team they don't tend to stay at the top very long. So perhaps we should not be surprised that it takes a lot of luck to get penalties against some of the top teams.
Bournemouth wanted to score goals, but they wanted to achieve goals in other ways rather than relying on a decision for a spot kick. But this was an infringement that was something that you would have hoped the assistant referee would have picked up on from his angle. When keepers and defenders go down the whistle soon comes to their rescue, but for strikers there is less room for officials to be brave. You need brave officials, but you can't rely on getting them in games where they are most needed.
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The incident in this match could have changed the whole outcome of the game, but we'll never know and in an instance the match had the route back for AFCB removed. Wilson will have hoped he'd have made just the merest of contact on the ball, as it was such a good delivery.
It won't do Bournemouth any good though to mull on this one decision too long. They have to focus on the next game and how they can still make a difference to their season. Wilson can feel rightly aggrieved but that's all he can get out of the situation.
Third time this season that there has been a flagrant and game changing error by an official that did not go our way - Jon Moss' apology to Adam Smith for calling a foul in error, the failure to call a foul in the Leicester game when Charlie Daniels was pushed over, and now this. We did get the touch of magic against West Ham.
ReplyDeleteI advocate that these things should even out over time, but we seem to get a bit less than our share.
TJ
I saw some video analysis of that particular decision a few days ago including comments by Dermot Gallagher.
ReplyDeleteThe referee was on the wrong side of the defender to see what was going on. He suspected, but that is not enough for a penalty and a red card.
Where Gallagher and the other commentators disagreed ws whether the lino should have seen it or not. Gallagher thought not but the commentators (ex players) disagreed.
I don't watch all the games but remember another incident very well where the ref (Lee Probert) was unsighted and missed a big call. Charlie Daniels' foul on a Huddersfield player shortly before the 1-0. It was a bad foul and he should have been carded. Then again, Huddersfield's defence went to sleep when the corner was taken and even being a man down was no excuse for that. They had a dubious decision in their favour in the return match and it set up their second goal so they can live with the pain.