With regards to the penalty claim, in the stadium I thought it looked like a cast iron penalty. Having seen a replay, I woukd now categorise it as a dive. Ballard is heading into the box, his touch is too heavy and knows he won’t get to the ball, his legs buckle in a weird fashion before any touch from the Leicester defender and he hits the deck. For me, never a penalty and if it was given against my team I would be furious!
Generally thought he was one of the better refs we’ve had the pleasure of this season. Quite laid back in style. Time keeping definitely not a strong point - only 4 added second half despite many subs and a caution for time wasting - think it’s safe to say the directive has stopped!
I’m glad you’ve said this. As a Leicester fan (so biased), while he does grab him, the theatrics from Ballard for me make it a dive. I’m not seeing the same ‘cast iron’ penalty that others are.
Aside from that, his refereeing style seemed to contribute to sucking all of the energy out of the game, which didn’t really help my team get any rhythm once we scored (though that’s our own problem to figure out).
Hopefully he’ll learn and fix these issues in time.