RateTheRef

First time I’ve seen Mr Bell in a full game. Is this his first Sky game since promotion?

Looks the part, moves very well around the pitch and generally refereed the game well. However……
Two big decisions in the game in the space of one minute, a penalty for both teams, and both wrong. Not just opinion wrong, just wrong.

The first one there is no contact made by the defender and I’m surprised the AR didn’t get involved there as he had the perfect view. Referee seemed to be very quick on the whistle, especially given that AR1 was best placed to make that decision.
A minute later a penalty kick is given at the other end which was outside the area. Sky said 4 yards which is very u fair on Mr Bell, it was closer than that, however it was clearly still outside. AR2 would surely have had an unobstructed view of this one so again I’m surprised that the AR didn’t get visibly involved.

On the whole this was actually a very good performance from a young referee who clearly has ability. However the top referees are judged on their big decisions and unfortunately on this front Mr Bell fell short. Certainly one to watch for the future though.

I agree with the opening post. Thought Bell looked very comfortable throughout the game, but his performance will be let down by 2 key matches incidents. With regards to the penalties, he was extremely quick on the whistle for both - maybe a couple of seconds thinking time could have helped? But I also have an element of sympathy for him as I think for both decisions his assistants are best placed to get involved with the decision.

Quote from: Mackem ref on Wed 11 Aug 2021 08:39

I agree with the opening post. Thought Bell looked very comfortable throughout the game, but his performance will be let down by 2 key matches incidents. With regards to the penalties, he was extremely quick on the whistle for both - maybe a couple of seconds thinking time could have helped? But I also have an element of sympathy for him as I think for both decisions his assistants are best placed to get involved with the decision.

I have not seen either penalty incident, but if we was "extremely quick on the whistle for both" that may have precluded his better placed Assistant Referees from taking that opportunity to get involved? 

I have wondered, with some referees, how much they want their Assistants to get involved beyond their basic duties of ball in/out of play and offside?  It always struck me that refereeing was a "team game" and the objective of getting the right decision should mean involving colleagues where they can advance that objective to the suppression of the referee's ego.

Let's not forget that a lot of the teamwork at this level is done over the comms system.  Just because there was no obvious input from an assistant doesn't mean there wasn't any.

Haven’t seen this game, but poor penalty decisions seemed to be par for the course tonight; take a look at the one Sam Allison gave Sunderland at Port Vale.

I agree with you Boz. A wretched decision by Sam to award Sunderland a penalty which gave them a two goal lead in a 2-1 win. No way did the Port Vale goalie bring the Sunderland player down. Sam seemed to be well behind play at the time which can't have helped.