RateTheRef

I'll be honest at full speed at the time, I thought it was unfortunate and a yellow was correct but having seen it again at half time, I think he showed a complete disregard to the Chelsea player and there was a bit more force than I thought and I think he was lucky.  It is one of these ones that is a bit subjective and I am glad they stuck with Taylor's opinion as I think when it is a knifeedge one that the on pitch referee should make the call, but on balance I think he'd see red more often than not.

Can I just say as a complete neutral, if they'd disallowed Kovacic's goal for offside, the telly was going off and never going back to an EPL game again.

Also as a complete neutral, I think Arsenal v City and Chelsea v Liverpool have been two of the best games I've seen in months.  In my mind there is now no doubt they are the top four.

I was late switching over and missed the Sane elbow/arm at the start of the game.  Only just seen it on MotD2, and was shocked frankly it wasn't an immediate RC from the referee nor then an intervention from VAR.  The pundits on MotD were in no doubt it should have been red.  Did it not fulfill the requirements of excessive force and endangering an opponent, or even VC?

Taylor had a decent game after that imo, but what would he have done had a similar incident had occurred after 60 minutes with a foul by a Chelsea player. For consistency, does he stick with a YC but be accused of getting 2 key decisions wrong, or does he give a straight RC and have the charge of inconsistency and injustice thrown at him?

Perhaps I wouldn't have felt so annoyed when I watched this incident if the same referee had not sent off Martial after 5 minutes a couple of seasons ago for a tap on the cheek having been provoked by Lamela, who got no sanction. 

And yes Tweed, that was my reaction too about the Kovacic goal.  I was rather surprised it took Darren England longer than I expected to decide the Chelsea players were not interfering.

I don’t understand the confusion. Red all day for me whether 6 seconds or 60 minutes. I’m not sure what “ lacks brutality” means in the context of the challenge. The facts speak for themselves. Red.

Mane and Mount lucky not to have seen red, apart from that. a well refereed game of football.

I thought Mane was lucky and couldn’t have complained if VAR had stepped in. Really don’t like the argument I’ve seen made about it only being 6 seconds in…if it’s VC it’s VC whenever it takes place. Was surprised they took longer reviewing Mount’s kick than the Mane elbow but the right decision reached as the force was low, in my view.
My heart sank at how long the VAR check took after the first Chelsea goal but glad nothing came of it.
Thought it was a very good game refereed very  well.

There was dialogue involving AT, nearest AR, Martin Atkinson and the VAR team with agreement of it being Reckless rather than Violent.

So did they all get it wrong or were they right? Maybe it was a split decision.
I am sure on other days other decisions would have been made.
I hate people its only after 6 seconds as if that makes a difference to the decision.

For me red all day long for mane, very lucky boy.

There seems to be a pattern of recent for referees in the premier league to issue yellow cards when red card are warranted, this is a worrying pattern, especially when var is reluctant to get involved.
Personally i think we should get rid of this perception that when a referee is called to the screen he is going to
Change his decision automatically. Referees should be called to the screen if there is an element of doubt and allow the angles the var gets for the on field referee to decide. Too often var hides behind the referee and vice versa.

Lastly it is very interesting that most players and ex players see this as a red card offence but officials dont.

I dont remember so many incidents of this kind in years gone by or was that just little was shown on tv or are
Players “playing the game differently”?