Another Premier League weekend is in the books and unsurprisingly there were a number of refereeing decisions the fans have been left arguing over.
The north London derby had its usual share of controversy while Man City and Chelsea were both on the receiving end of red cards.
Speaking on Mail Sport’s It’s All Kicking Off! podcast, Ian Ladyman and Chris Sutton had their say on the performances of the officials and it made for another lively debate.
‘Now, I’ll tell you what’s the problem, referees are a problem,’ said Mail Sport’s Football Editor Ladyman. ‘I tend to see myself as broadly supportive of referees.’
This brought a laugh from Sutton, who responded: ‘do you just think about your last two sentences then? I’ll tell you what the problem is. Referees are the problem. I support referees.
Ian Ladyman was far from impressed with the refereeing performances this past weekend
‘Look, I never ever, ever suggested I was gonna come on the show and be consistent,’ Ladyman replied. ‘I do have sympathy for referees generally. I think it’s a very, very difficult job. However, this weekend felt like a low to me.’
And it was a challenge by Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah that Ladyman was most perturbed by.
The striker flew in late on Spurs goalkeeper Vicario with his boot very high.
He didn’t make contact but it could have been nasty if he had and Ladyman was shocked that he remained on the pitch.
Eddie Nketiah was lucky to escape a red card for this challenge on Guglielmo Vicario
‘I’m quite careful what I say here for once,’ he said. ‘Nketiah for Arsenal, the challenge on the Tottenham goalkeeper was as bad as anything I’ve seen this season, and it doesn’t even go to VAR. It was disgusting, that challenge. Disgusting.’
‘I’m not with you,’ Sutton responded. ‘I mean, you’ve gone overboard disgusting. He didn’t really clean him out. He didn’t catch him. You’re talking about intent, aren’t you? I’m not suggesting.’
Ladyman replied: ‘I’m not gonna sit here and suggest that Nketiah had any intent in his mind. I don’t know that. And I would hope that he didn’t. But that challenge, it was shocking. And that is the type of challenge that, when it goes wrong like that, can lead to devastating injuries.
‘You know why the goalkeeper didn’t get injured? Because he was lucky. He was lucky.
Chris Sutton wasn’t convinced that there was any malice behind Nketiah’s foul
Sutton continued to disagree, saying: ‘Nketiah knew what he was doing. He missed him on purpose.’
‘Why is that not going to VAR?’ Ladyman asked. ‘Why has that not gone to VAR? Why have they not even had a look at that?
‘Mikel Arteta should have Nketiah into his office this morning, sit him down and show him video and say to him, don’t ever do that again. Do not ever do that again, because that I am, as you can tell quite cross about that challenge.
‘You cannot, players cannot get away with that type of stuff. They cannot get away with that. And because of the failures of the officials at yesterday’s game, that tackle now will be watched by people, and that’s, I suppose, say that really obvious thing, it’ll be watched by kids and people will think it’s okay. And it’s not okay. It is not okay.’
The pair also disagreed on the straight red card shown to Rodri, who was dismissed for grabbing Morgan Gibbs-White by the neck.
Rodri was shown a straight red card after putting his hands on the neck of Morgan Gibbs-White
Ladyman said: ‘So Rodri got sent off. I think it’s borderline because they’re just they’re barging each other.
‘He grabs Morgan Gibbs white by the throat,’ Sutton responded. ‘He did. You were in a tapas bar in Madrid, okay? He grabbed him by the throat.’
Ladyman did somewhat back down, saying: ‘I wasn’t totally convinced about that one, but I can see why he was sent off.’
Malo Gusto also saw red for Chelsea for a ‘reckless challenge’ on Lucas Digne and both men agreed that it was harsh.
Malo Gusto was also shown his marching orders as Chelsea suffered another defeat
Ladyman said: ‘Malo Gusto is sent off for what in your day would have been applauded as a brilliant tackle. Takes the ball first, and then there’s a bit of kind of follow through.’
Sutton replied: ‘I’ve got sympathy for the referees because these are subjective calls. So we’ve disagreed on a couple. I agree with you on the Gusto one.’
They also spoke on the handball incidents that took place over the weekend, Luton and Arsenal both awarded ones that some disagreed with.
On the Luton one, Ladyman said: ‘Joao Gomes of Wolves, the ball hits his leg, deflects up onto his hand, which I think is, which I’m pretty sure, by the letter of the law is not a handball if it deflects off another part of your body. So explain that one to me.
Sutton agreed before questioning spot-kick given to Arsenal for Cristian Romero’s handball in the area.
‘What I don’t like honestly about the penalty award is, I think Romero was last ditch,’ he said.
‘He’s is a good defender, Romero, but he’s reckless at times. But he was trying to block the shot from Ben White and naturally, if you’re doing that, you can’t think in that moment about putting his hands behind his back, he’s thinking about doing his job properly. His arm came up in the in the motion as he was doing that. But that’s harsh, isn’t it?
