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Author Topic: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal  (Read 1553 times)

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Carter

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Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« on: Mon 30 Sep 2019 21:34 »
I think I am being kind in saying Kevin Friend has been average in this game.
A lot of strange and incorrect decisions, Ok non game changing, very inconsistent with yellow cards in my view.
The big decision so far the assistant got (badly) wrong but finally VAR has awarded  goal. I really can’t understand this business of the assistant flagging, why not just wait to see if he score as it will be reviewed anyway, as it just causes confusion and there will be a time that players will stop particularly the keeper and there will be hell on.

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Tim Wills

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #1 on: Mon 30 Sep 2019 22:04 »
He must be having a really good game because he's trending on Twitter. 
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TheThingFromLewes

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #2 on: Mon 30 Sep 2019 22:08 »
Shocking error from Ledger to flag for offside. I thought Friend was a little erratic, and Xhaka should have been off as he pulled back Lingard around the head when Utd broke in the first half, which would have been his first yellow before he was carded later.

A few other iffy decisions but the VAR over rule was excellent.
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ajb95

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #3 on: Mon 30 Sep 2019 23:12 »
Friend coming into thins game in form with some very good appointments this season. However I Watched the game and thought he was poor. When you’ve got our fifa referees wasted on the likes of Sheff Utd v Liverpool and Leicester and Newcastle then something isn’t right.
Felt sorry for him a bit by the end as massively out of his depth. Foul detection was poor epitomised when he gave a free kick in the first half for a foul by McTominay and then changed his mind. Yellow cards very inconsistent - lingard and particularly Xhaka lucky to survive being binned. Thought both assistants equally poor especially when giving free kicks, some very soft to non existent fouls being flagged for!
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Readingfan

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #4 on: Mon 30 Sep 2019 23:15 »
I don't particularly have an issue with assistants raising the flag (although a poor decision in this instance.)  I think it can cause just as much 'confusion' in uEFA/FIFA games when a player is clearly offside and the assistant keeps the flag down for an age before suddenly raising it. You can say that players might not play to the whistle but then sometimes players lose their marker at a corner - it's their fault if it happens and they concede a goal because of it.

I didn't think Friend was especially good. I thought it was a poor appointment. He was a long way below the elite officialsand I think this would have been a good game to give one of the more up and coming referees a test.

Readingfan

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #5 on: Mon 30 Sep 2019 23:16 »
Friend coming into thins game in form with some very good appointments this season. However I Watched the game and thought he was poor. When you’ve got our fifa referees wasted on the likes of Sheff Utd v Liverpool and Leicester and Newcastle then something isn’t right.
/quote]

Well at least both of those games feature a team with a decent chance of being in the top 4!  ;)
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Ref Fan

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #6 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 10:10 »
Like others, I was somewhat surprised at the appointment and it proved a difficult night for Kevin Friend.  One thing that struck me was the amount of dissent  at times and I wasn't convinced he was very good at dealing with it.  Whether that's a reflection of the players having less respect for him than say Taylor and Oliver or thinking he's more prone to being influenced, or just lack of confidence in his decisions, I'm not sure.

Poor from the AR in flagging the Arsenal goal offside and I was mystified by the free kick he awarded to Arsenal right at the end.  Might have been repercussions had a goal been scored.

Pereira and Lingard could / should have been carded earlier and Xhaka seemed to get his usual number of chances not afforded to some other players before he was eventually cautioned.

Gary Neville suggested that Rashford's challenge could have been Red a few seasons ago.  It was certainly late and rash and the greasy surface ensured his momentum took him into the defender at pace.  Were studs raised?  Perhaps the benefit of the doubt was reasonable but he needs to cut out those sort of challenges as it wasn't his first over the last couple of seasons.

The pundits on Sky reckoned United should have had a penalty for handball.  I don't see how Friend could have spotted it from his angle but I wasn't expecting VAR to intervene given the track record so far this season so wasn't surprised they didn't.   
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Hendo

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #7 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 10:28 »
Friend coming into thins game in form with some very good appointments this season. However I Watched the game and thought he was poor. When you’ve got our fifa referees wasted on the likes of Sheff Utd v Liverpool and Leicester and Newcastle then something isn’t right.
Felt sorry for him a bit by the end as massively out of his depth. Foul detection was poor epitomised when he gave a free kick in the first half for a foul by McTominay and then changed his mind. Yellow cards very inconsistent - lingard and particularly Xhaka lucky to survive being binned. Thought both assistants equally poor especially when giving free kicks, some very soft to non existent fouls being flagged for!

Mediocre ref for a match with 2 very poor teams. Enough said
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TheThingFromLewes

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #8 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 11:32 »
In the past the number of non FIFA officials would have handled this game far better, Wiley being an example, who was the best official IMO not to get a white badge by a country mile.

These days the cluster of non FIFA officials who could handle this game who are approaching the end of their tenure in SG1 is thin on the ground (Atkinson and the Wirral card shark as examples)

Even some FIFA officials like Tierney and Attwell haven't officiated this fixture.

It's no wonder the cream of the SG always pick up these games, and when they don't, things go off the boil.
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nemesis

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #9 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 12:17 »
Shocking error from Ledger to flag for offside. I thought Friend was a little erratic, and Xhaka should have been off as he pulled back Lingard around the head when Utd broke in the first half, which would have been his first yellow before he was carded later.

A few other iffy decisions but the VAR over rule was excellent.

Excellence comes cheaply to some.

DublinRef

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #10 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 12:28 »
I was probably in the minority who was pleased to see Friend's appointment to this game the reason being twofold, firstly, in my opinion Friend is a far better referee than many on here make out and secondly, I think there needs to be far more variance in the PL appointments. Obviously there's the issue of referees seeing the same teams too often but I don't like the unofficial tier system within the SG. I feel it damages progression and keeps more average referees (who only ever really get mid table clashes) in their position, blocking the progression of referees who may be able one day to take charge of the biggest games. While you can never have 20 Olivers/Taylors/Deans/Atkinsons/Marriners, a PL referee of 10+ years who cannot be trusted to take charge of a number of big games each season shouldn't be doing the job.

Regardless, Friend wasn't good last night, he correctly gave an early yellow to an  Arsenal player, presumably for SPA - a good start. A few minutes later a Man United player committed what was in my opinion a 50/50 SPA foul that normally I would support a referee in warning, but not yellow carding a player. However, given he had just issued a yellow card to Arsenal for an SPA foul and for the sake of perception and game management he should have issued the Man united player a yellow card, he would not have been simply 'balancing the game' as this would have been a fully justifiable caution. The best referees in my opinion, must not only be fair (as Kevin Friend unquestionably is) but also be seen, where possible, to be fair. This was not the case in this moment and from that decision on he had players from both sides but particularly Arsenal questioning his calls ans surrounding him.

Even if this may have been partially his own making, he should have dealt more strongly with these protest - clear body language and verbal confirmation that this action is not surrounded, followed by a strongly delivered yellow card should this warning not be heeded. This did not happen and there were at least 5 times I can recall 3 or more players surrounding Friend while his body language remained quite passive.

This was true of his verbal warnings to players about foul play, while often justified, they were rushed with players often walking away as he was talking  - he didn't convey control or authority as one would have hoped.

Big picture though? All yellow cards were in my opinion at least supportable, play on call for the penalty 70-30 penalty call for me but acceptable, while not desirable to play on, no major errors as VAR corrected the incorrect offside call, Xhaka a total missed incident off the ball and a missed yellow card that can be forgiven, wrong as it was, foul detection good while sometimes being a bit inconsistent - a disaster? No. A really poor performance? No. A very average performance by a referee who is capable of better? In my opinion - yes.
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JCFC

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #11 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 12:33 »
What a very good post, DublinRef
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Kopref

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #12 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 12:55 »
Friend coming into thins game in form with some very good appointments this season. However I Watched the game and thought he was poor. When you’ve got our fifa referees wasted on the likes of Sheff Utd v Liverpool and Leicester and Newcastle then something isn’t right.
Felt sorry for him a bit by the end as massively out of his depth. Foul detection was poor epitomised when he gave a free kick in the first half for a foul by McTominay and then changed his mind. Yellow cards very inconsistent - lingard and particularly Xhaka lucky to survive being binned. Thought both assistants equally poor especially when giving free kicks, some very soft to non existent fouls being flagged for!
What a disgusting comment to post. I am sure the fans of Liverpool and Leicester. both top six teams not to mention Sheffield and Newcastle would not appreciate the disparaging slur. "The likes of " I agree with you in one sense "something isn't right" and I believe that to be you
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ajb95

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #13 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 14:48 »
Friend coming into thins game in form with some very good appointments this season. However I Watched the game and thought he was poor. When you’ve got our fifa referees wasted on the likes of Sheff Utd v Liverpool and Leicester and Newcastle then something isn’t right.
Felt sorry for him a bit by the end as massively out of his depth. Foul detection was poor epitomised when he gave a free kick in the first half for a foul by McTominay and then changed his mind. Yellow cards very inconsistent - lingard and particularly Xhaka lucky to survive being binned. Thought both assistants equally poor especially when giving free kicks, some very soft to non existent fouls being flagged for!
What a disgusting comment to post. I am sure the fans of Liverpool and Leicester. both top six teams not to mention Sheffield and Newcastle would not appreciate the disparaging slur. "The likes of " I agree with you in one sense "something isn't right" and I believe that to be you

No need for the harsh over the top comment from yourself. I am merely stating my opinion and my opinion on the appointments is well documented. Let me expand:

Take Anthony Taylor. He will yet maybe 5/6 of the top games a season: if 3 of them involve Liverpool and he does a team a max of 5 times a season then that leaves a couple of games over the season for other games.
No disrespect to Sheffield United or other “smaller clubs” but why can’t some of the so-called “lesser” referees take charge of this game; they rarely do a top club and very rarely have a big club in a live televised game.
It’s about fairness for the club’s and referees, and IMHO it isn’t fair if a referee gets to referee the top clubs 5/6 times and the lesser referees do the top clubs once or twice!

Readingfan

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Re: Kevin Friend Man Utd v Arsenal
« Reply #14 on: Tue 01 Oct 2019 15:09 »
Friend coming into thins game in form with some very good appointments this season. However I Watched the game and thought he was poor. When you’ve got our fifa referees wasted on the likes of Sheff Utd v Liverpool and Leicester and Newcastle then something isn’t right.
Felt sorry for him a bit by the end as massively out of his depth. Foul detection was poor epitomised when he gave a free kick in the first half for a foul by McTominay and then changed his mind. Yellow cards very inconsistent - lingard and particularly Xhaka lucky to survive being binned. Thought both assistants equally poor especially when giving free kicks, some very soft to non existent fouls being flagged for!
What a disgusting comment to post. I am sure the fans of Liverpool and Leicester. both top six teams not to mention Sheffield and Newcastle would not appreciate the disparaging slur. "The likes of " I agree with you in one sense "something isn't right" and I believe that to be you

No need for the harsh over the top comment from yourself. I am merely stating my opinion and my opinion on the appointments is well documented. Let me expand:

Take Anthony Taylor. He will yet maybe 5/6 of the top games a season: if 3 of them involve Liverpool and he does a team a max of 5 times a season then that leaves a couple of games over the season for other games.
No disrespect to Sheffield United or other “smaller clubs” but why can’t some of the so-called “lesser” referees take charge of this game; they rarely do a top club and very rarely have a big club in a live televised game.
It’s about fairness for the club’s and referees, and IMHO it isn’t fair if a referee gets to referee the top clubs 5/6 times and the lesser referees do the top clubs once or twice!

But then surely Craig Pawson doing Leicester V Newcastle would be an example of the approach you outline?

I can sort of understand what you are saying but if you don't want FIFA referees to officiate televised games such as Sheffield United V Liverpool and you think they are wasted when they get Leicester V Newcastle then what games should they be refereeing?