Ref Review: Marriner excels at Everton, while Chelsea and QPR draw the short straw

By OffsideLiam.

It’s that time of the week to have a rant about the latest batch of refereeing howlers or daft decisions, and highlight the odd right call, from the Premier League’s men in the middle . . .

Dean’s the Villain

Ref: Mike Dean

Dean made some clever calls and used his initiative but again blundered the obvious calls. After sheer determination and grit to back into the game, Aston Villa were locked at 2-2 with Manchester City in the dying stages of the game.

They countered well and as Fabian Delph plays the ball into Christian Benteke’s path, which looks as if he’s in a one-on-one chance with Hart, he’s incorrectly pulled up for offside. It was a poor decision that could be the difference between staying up or finding themselves in the Championship next year.

Grade: C. Poor officiating.

Advantage points

Ref: Jonathan Moss

Moss kickstarted the weekend’s fixtures with a solid level of officiating in the early game between Southampton and Tottenham. Bar one mistake. We can clearly see that the ball hit Erik Lamela’s hands as he equalised and the goal shouldn’t have stood. A hard one to spot but his officials should have helped him out.

Moss used his initiative cleverly when not pulling up the foul on James Ward-Prowse, which resulted in Graziano Pelle scoring his first of two goals against Spurs. He played the advantage and it proved crucial in not disrupting the rhythm of play.

Grade: B. Solid but made one error.

Oliver twist

Ref: Michael Oliver

Oliver had to make sure he kept the players under control in the big game at the Emirates. He did not. But to give the ref credit, he made the right decision over Oscar’s first penalty incident as there was not enough contact from Hector Bellerin for it to be given.

However, minutes later, Oscar’s one-on-one with keeper David Ospina. He lobs him, then gets clobbered – ending up in hospital – which to everyone but Oliver is a clear penalty. It was a blatant spot-kick and Jose Mourinho has every right to feel hard done by.

Grade: D. Failed to award blatant penalty.

Jones costs QPR

Ref: Mike Jones

One good call was cancelled out by a poor one at QPR v West Ham. Jones rightly awarded the hosts with a deserved penalty after Charlie Austin’s shot hit James Collins’ hand. Unfortunately for him, it was saved by Adrian.

Then with 15 minutes to go, West Ham got another slice of good fortune. As the ball is played up in the air for Adrian to take, Steven Caulker – fairly – challenges the Hammers goalkeeper in the air and wins the ball. That ball falls to Richard Dunne to head home but the goal was ruled out by Jones, who thought Caulker had impeded the goalie.

Grade: C. Poor refereeing could be costly for QPR.

Ever so good

Ref: Andre Marriner

He mostly made the right calls, but I felt that he was overly harsh on Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini at Goodison. Yes, he deserved his booking, but I also feel that because of his size, refs automatically think that he can’t be fouled.

So when he does go to ground from shoulder charges by Phil Jagielka, Marriner reckons that he’s simulating when if the same challenge happened on anyone else, it would be a clear foul. Apart from this, the ref did a fairly good job in a match which saw Everton retain their winning streak over United.

Grade: B. Handled quiet game well.

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