“They did not score any goals today. It was the referee who scored two goals for them.” He did not exactly say those exact words, but if he was still the manager of Chelsea today, this is more or less what Jose Mourinho might have said after the match. In truth, yesterday’s referee helped Manchester United a lot. Had it not been for Mike Dean’s few but flagrant mistakes, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team might have had a hard time taking all three points against an uninspired Chelsea.
After the he first half an hour of a game which promised to be highly entertaining and unusually quiet, Mike Dean looked set to have a perfect game. Up until that point he had not mistakes other than a debatable penalty decision, and then he made the afternoon’s most intriguing decision: sending off Mikel. There is no question that his tackle was an ugly one deserving of a yellow card at least, but some people think that it was far off a red card challenge.
Joe Cole was back-tracking to prevent Evra from getting in a dangerous position inside the Chelsea area. Not surprisingly, the Frenchman was faster and got ahead of the English winger who then made a desperate tackle in the corner of the area. He got the ball, but he went through Evra to do so. Chelsea was let off a red card and a penalty. As the decision could have gone either way, it cannot be seen as a mistake on the referee’s behalf. A few minute later, however, Mikel was reduced to tears by the referee.
The Nigerian entered into that tackle at full speed with both feet on Evra’s ankle. It was a challenge which could have seen Manchester United play without a left defender for the remaining of the season, luckily Evra was careful and took the tackle as best as he could. I know there will be a backlash from the Chelsea fans for saying this, but in my opinion that was certainly a red card.
The next big talking point of the game came deep into injury time in the first half. with about ten seconds left in the half, Manchester United won a corner and Mike Dean allowed for it to be taken. There is nothing wrong with allowing a corner to be taken as long as it is within determined time limits, however by the time it was executed the two minutes of stoppage time were already over, and this goes against the FIFA guidelines. That was the one true mistake made by Mike Dean during the first half.
The second half, however was a totally different story. The first minor mistake was booking Rooney. The mercurial forward was adjudged to have fouled Ashley Cole, though replays show that there was no kind of contact between the two. Characteristically, Rooney then went to the referee using all of his vocabulary. He was booked for dissent.
Given that he was booked earlier in the game, Wayne Rooney could have easily reduced Manchester United to ten men as well. Having lost the ball in the corner of the field to none other than Ashley Cole, he pushed the England defender in the back with all his might. I can find no reasonable explanation for Mike Dean’s decision to let Rooney continue in the game.
Soon after another Chelsea player should have been reduced to tears. Ronaldo started one of his trademark sprints with the ball at his feet and for the first time ever I saw him get the better of the former Arsenal man Cole. But never fear because the other Cole was nearby and again he started to track back. There is no way that he could have got the better of Ronaldo even when the latter was with the ball at his feet, so he made the sensible decision to lunge into a high speed tackle from behind and catch his heel.
It worked brilliantly as the referee did not see this challenge as worthy of a red card. Apparently he did not read the part of the rule book that says that a red card is issued for a tackle from behind. Ferguson says that that decision canceled out the Mikel card; however Chelsea could have easily finished the game with nine men.
With mere minutes left in the game, and Chelsea looking more and more likely to have a second shot on target, Manchester United needed some insurance. And so Saha found himself with the ball just inside the area and with Tal Ben Haim nearby. The Frenchman probably knew of this part of the Israeli’s game and so as soon as he felt a foot on his shin he jumped as if he had just been bitten by a snake. There was no doubt that there was contact, however it was as close to being an actual penalty as the one the Italians won against Australia in last year’s World Cup.
In short, Mike Dean had a pretty terrible afternoon though he made few mistakes really they had a massive impact on the eventual outcome of the game. For all the stick that Graham Poll received, he seemed to be far better than any of today’s Premier League referees. I wonder if he will receive another ‘big match’, maybe he will be forgiven like Alan Riley was.
First, there’s no referee who’s called Alan Riley, or at least not in the Premiership. Secondly, Joe Cole’s challenge on Evra couldn’t have gone either way: it was a clear penalty and a red card for a professional foul. (as for Joe Cole getting the ball: it rolled to the original direction so it was Evra who kicked it) Third, Saha was indeed fouled by Ben Haim though his reaction was ludicrously exaggerated. But that does not mean in itself that it was not a foul.
In short, Mike Dean made three major mistakes and two of them (at Cole’s two fouls) favoured Chelsea. I don’t deny that the sending off had the biggest influence on the outcome but I’d definitely say that he wasn’t biased towards United, he was just incompetent. Whatever José Mourinho would say.
I found Chelsea’s passing very entertaining, perhaps Abramovich’s vision of Chelsea will come true under Grant?
Oh, and your seeming admiration for the tackle on Ronaldo, one that could have injured him, regardless of whether it cancelled the Red card out or not, is bad form. Mikel was perhaps unlucky, but he did show studs and there was intent. There is only one person to blame for that card and it wasn’t the Ref.
The penalty, well, seeing as you’re willing to play the ‘one thing cancels out another card’ for Red Card(s), perhaps you should do the same thing for the penalties? United should have got one in the first, they didn’t, so it all worked ok in the end, right? It was a silly tackle by the defender, like Mikel before him, if you don’t want the Ref to make bad decisions, don’t make them yourself in the first instance. He knew it was a poor attempt, as did Terry, who I might add, was rubbish, again.
A Dean Windass hat trick on Wednesday? Let hope so.
Ryan what i meant when i said that it could have gone either way was that it was hard for the referee to make that decision. there is no doubt that cole got the ball, the question was: did he get the ball beofre he got evra or after. i dont know about you but i needed two replays to decide on that one. And about the penalty: there was contact, but not nearly enough for it to be a penalty. that was a massive mistake. the red card was a red card and if the FA has any sense it will not rescind it. also my bad on the ‘riley’ thin, i meant wiley.
Nick, in case you have not noticed i am a man utd fan, i do not admire joe cole very much, far less his late, break-his-leg tackles. you can see my sarcasm if you read the next phrase:
“Apparently he did not read the part of the rule book that says that a red card is issued for a tackle from behind”
I am not playing the ‘one thing cancelles another’ card, i think man utd should have scored two goals yeasterday, both from penalties. the part where Cech punched rooney in the head to get to the ball first was a clear penalty and a red card.
Andrei- decent article but it is not the first time that Ronaldo hass got the better of Ashley Cole, it was a match at Old Trafford a few seasons back when Cole was still at Arsenal, Ronaldo left him dead and eating grass, ckeck out the the video link-
thttp://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7640239740060774363&q=ronaldo+v+ashley+cole&total=21&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1 or search the video titled as ‘Cristiano Ronaldo plants Ashley Cole on his ass’; search for it on YouTube and you’ll have proof that yesterday’s game was not the first time that Cristiano Ronaldo has beaten Ashley Cole on the flanks, the clip shows Ronaldo twining him inside out and Cole falling falling flat on his ass, as the title suggests!
Andrei- reading your article again, there was enough contact for the penalty, Saha shouldn’t have play acted but any contact impeding access to the ball and un-successful at that is a penalty, which is what Tal Ben Haim’s attempt was.
The game has changed drastically now, defenders have to be at the top of their game to go for a ball in the box and it shows up the gulf between so called world-class defenders and down to earth defenders who get the job done- Tal Ben Haim was never really amazing, he played an essential part in Big Sam’s style of play which made him look better than he really is/was. But I digress, it was a penalty, strikers are well aware of how to go about winning penalties (some more unashamedly than others), penalties nonetheless and with Saha cutting inside him (which a real world class defender would have anticipated or would’ve had enough trust in his goalie or fellow defenders to deal with) Tal Ben Haim was always left behind.
I want to know why no one has yet mentioned the boos that rang out from the away fans when the Chelski players had gone over to applaud them, well the clip I saw was Terry and Essien walking up and the boos were very obvious. Maybe Essien was getting booed for his mistake that led to the goal and Terry being booed for the turncoat that he is? Interesting how the papers haven’t picked up on it either.. Now that’s a bias, it’s cos he’s England captain, the epitomy of the Anglo-Saxon thoroughbred which the media hacks love to idealise- pants, absolute pants- I want the first person to pick up an anti-John Terry article (even the stories about his part in Mourinho’s departure fall short of describing him in a cynical tone, let alone malice)to run back to Soccerlens so we can discuss its merits…
As a referee myself, the performance of Mike Dean was simply not good enough.
The first penalty appeal, in my view should have been a penalty. Evra beat Cole to the ball and Cole got Evra before the ball.
The Mikel red card however, no matter what people say, was a red card. A two-foot tackle is a straight red(announced at start of season by FA) and that is what Mikel did. His studs were up and it was two-foot so right decision there.
Rooney should have never been booked though, a poor decision.
And now the Joe Cole tackle. Why Mike Dean did not send him off is beyond me. A shocking tackle from behind, again two-foot and Dean should have without question sent off Cole.
The penalty however, I feel was a penalty. Yes Saha exaggerated it but Ben-Haim did make enough contact for Saha to go down and a player is entitled to go down if his progress and his access to the ball as KingOfZamunda rightly says is impeded and/or by foul tackle.
Overall, Mike Dean was very inconsistent, and although he got the Mikel red card and Saha penalty right, there was far too many mistakes in my view.
Just thought I’d let everyone know that if you look at the penalty incident Ben-Haim caught Saha in the face with his arm which led to the ‘exaggerated’ reaction
Good to see a Referee contribute- that lasst ditch tackle by Joe Cole, if committed by Wayne Rooney, would’ve been headline material and you know it. And how crap was John Terry yesterday? How comes no-one made mention of that, neither the press nor the match reports. How comes the only people bleating on about Rio and Vidic rocking all over the world are United fans and the Match of the Day pundits, no pundit- Alan Hansen (punk that he is)???? Media is as piss poor in this country as the National Squad, recent victories granted!
I agree Mike Dean had a terrible afternoon, but this article is convoluted and the argumentation is all over the place. First you say that Man U. would have had a hard time taking all 3 points were it not for Mike Dean’s mistakes. Then you say that Chelsea could easily have finished with 9 men. Well, which is it? Surely if Chelsea had finished with 9 men, they would easily have been broken down by United.
Firstly i do not think that the saha goal was a penalty.as for mr mikel.he was rightly sent off.2 footed.studs showin.high speed.intent.that sounds like a red to me.i dont care what any1 says grant,chelsea players….it was a clear sending off.joe cole too.manutd outclassed chelsea.carrick or tevez my choice for MOM.
Yeah Liam I checked it out, spot on mate, everyones been looking down at how little contact there was(although enough to give a penalty), jeez Liam ur a better football pundit than those so called ‘Professionals’.
This match was so sad. Not a good representation of either side. There should not have been a red card, it completely killed the game, and what’s more – even if he used 2 feet, Mikel got the ball. What a waste of a potentially good match….
Also what was up with Rooney kneeing people in the head – twice by my count!
about the video of ashley cole getting left on his ass by ronaldo
Its a great video, but unfortunately not a true representation of the battle these two have had over the years. Without doubt one of the best match ups in the premiership. Ashley cole has probably enjoyed the most sucess against ronaldo, although ronaldo has got the better of him on some occasions.
This comin from a utd fan who cant stand cashley cole, but have to give him his due, hes one of the best lb
KingofZamuda, I am ashamed to say that I have not seen that match:(, but I did remeber of another time Ronaldo beat Cole at Euro 2004. It was the only time in the whole game he managed to do that and it ended up being a goal…
Igor, how on this planed can you say that Mikel got the ball? the ball was a few feet away from Evra by the time the two made contact, as with Rooney kneeing people, the one on Make was a mistake, he was looking in the opposite direction, and I do not think that the one on Cole was intentional as well, though that is debatable.
Good point about the hand sticking out Liam… looking back at it there was aconnection between the hand and the reaction…
Mike: had the referee made a different, incorrect decision on Mikel’s tackle, Man Utd might not have scored… had he not played more stoppage time than he announced, Man Utd would not have scored and Chelsea would have come out in the second half with a different outlook and probably more conident. For me that was the most influential mistake in the game: letting the first half go on for too long. Without that I think Man Utd would have been held off. As for finishing with 9 men: it might have been easier for them to hold Man Utd back if they played all the men behind the ball and forgot their atacking duties… Man Utd’s only aerial power comes from their defenders and a winger…
Chelsea is really missing a lot Frank Lampard. He and drogba are the only ones with high rate of goals and he is the cerebrum of the team. Without him chelsea is 0
Awful match by Dean. As a Blues supporter, both sides got away with bloody murder, but the match was given to the Red Devils with the red card. Here’s what I saw:
1. by the book, Joe Cole’s challenge on Evra was a penalty. But refs let far more go unnoticed in the box in a match such as this, and to award a penalty that early would have been murder. This should be accepted, and be remembered later on so the call will be evened out.
2. Mikel’s challenge was no red. If anyone recalls, Mikel was dribbling full speed with posession of the ball before the challenge. Evra ran up full speed to challenge him, and before they collided Mikel put a touch on the ball. Neither player was unable to stop themselves from running into each other. At most, Mikel is given a yellow for “upending” Evra, but to give a red card there absolutely killed any chances for Chelsea in the match. And to go to straight red without appeal was ridiculous. To argue this fact is to not know football. I still think a yellow card would have been excessive, but at least give Mikel benefit of the doubt on a ball he posessed only 30 minutes in. I have to wonder, though, that if because it was Evra, that’s why red came out, as a makeup call for Cole’s challenge.
3. The corner was ridiculous. I wasn’t aware of FIFA guidelines on the corner in injury time, but I did see Chelsea do enough to clear the ball out that 99% of refs would have given the half time whistle. Terrible decision by Dean.
4. Ashley Cole fell and Rooney didn’t nick him in the least. He did deserve a yellow for dissent though, but it is a stretch because you could give those to every player on the pitch from both sides. As a fan of football, I want to see the best players on both squads play unhindered, so when Chelsea wins I can say we beat United’s best, and when United win I can say we lost to their best. Let Rooney jabber and the other players jabber because it was not overly excessive.
5. Rooney, however, should have been sent off immediately for the willfull, malicious attack on Ashley Cole. Mikel gets a red card immediately for a “challenge” without appeal, but Dean can stand there for a minute while Rooney argues his case and receives nothing? Absolutely shameful. And I guarantee John Terry’s challenge on Rooney with 10 minutes left was a reminder to him that they need Cole for the Euro campaign, so to fight with your national teammates was stupid.
6. Joe Cole should have see red for nicking Ronaldo from the back. Obvious he wouldn’t pull away the ball with that foul.
Those are all the mistakes I saw, and it ruined what was a perfectly good match for the first 25, 30 minutes. Both sets of our supporters were cheated out of what we went to see.
To add:
7. Saha’s penalty – Again, by the book, it is a penalty, but it is football, and those challenges are commonplace. Saha runs into Ben Haim’s ankle and suddenly is auditioning for “Dream Team.” Saha should be ashamed for the acting gig. Anyway, the call is a 50/50, but I think it was petty.
taehr- it WAS a penalty. Play acting or not. You obviously aren’t up to date with the ‘politics of penalty’.
Zamunda: That was so much less of a foul than others that occured during the game. As for these “politics of penalty” that you are talking about, that is exactly why Evra was not awarded one in the first few minutes of the match.
Saha didn’t fall because of a trip. He was recoiling from the arm across the face. Watch it again on You Tube. Admittedly, he overdid it. I’m sure he could have stayed on his feet but he was definitely impeded.
For all the poor and contentious decisions there was 1 which mattered above all the others, and that was the sending off that ruined a game between two evenly matched teams, which the referee got bang wrong. It was a ONE footed challenge in a 60/40 situation, as can be seen by his ONE foot making contact with the BALL, a good half metre before it reaches Evra. Mikel was dribbling and took a bad touch, anyone (apart from biased Man U fans like Luke who are blinded by arrogance) can see on that his eyes are only on the ball.
An awful decision, from an Arsenal fan
No matter how many bad decisions, Chelsea was never going to win this match. Sometimes the ref ‘seems’ to be for you, sometimes he seems to be against you, sometimes (like Sunday) he seems like he is at a total different game. That’s football. Everybody can complain to their hearts content, but two things are certain:
1) Tevez finally got off the mark
2) Chelsea are no longer title contenders this season.
BrianW- you’re not getting it are you? Read the very first point I made to understand what I mean by ‘the politics of penalty’; the game has changed now, defenders have to have to have to, damn they have to, be 100% spot on to go for the ball, if not they’ve impeded access to the ball and denied a scoring opportunity and so it is a penalty. In bothe cases this happened- with Saha everyone’s whinging on about his play-acting but he did have an arm across the face and Tal Ben Haim was turned and left for dead when he stuck his foot across, and yes, Saha shouldn’t have flapped like that but with an arm across the face what would you strikers out there do? You’d give one back or you would get the refs attention. As for Joe Cole on Evra- there was minimal theatrics in that from him but I’ll tell you something for nothing- he should’ve been off after that tackle, in the box, from behind and went through the player- that’s a penalty, a red card and a sending off all rolled into one.
And yes, Obi Mikel had to go- 2 footed and studs up this season will get you a red card, if Evra hadn’t taken it the way he did, i.e. jumped out of the way, we could’ve been without his service for the best part of the season, and then all of us would be singing a different tune here!
I dislike Chelsea and Man Utd equally and I am a ref. The Mikel tackle was a matter of opinion. It was a foul. It is then down to the referee to decide if the tackle was reckless/dangerous or not. Different human beings make different decisions. Dean was within his rights under the laws of the game to make that decision. You may have made a different decision – that’s fine. And those are the actual words of the Laws of Association Football (“in the opinion of the referee”). Therefore, Dean was not “WRONG” as MDH – just another person commenting on a decision without knowing the rule of the game.
Same principal with “dissent” for Rooney i.e. he clearly was dissenting. It is then up to the ref if they feel it warrants a yellow for the offence. If refs gave more yellows then the game would be a better place – a flurry of red cards for a couple of weeks would get Terry and Rooney et al to stop abusing the refs and benefit the whole of football.
As for giving a yellow to Rooney for a subsequent push… there actually is no “yellow card” offence for a foul. He could have given Rooney a yellow for “persistent foul play” but if Rooney had been generally well behaved since his yellow then there is no reason why he had to give a second yellow to Rooney at all. Again, down to ref’s opinion. If he saw it as Violent Conduct or Serious Foul Play then he could have given him a straight red… but in that case the fact he had earlier received a yellow is entirely irrelevant.
I didn’t see the Cole foul in the penalty area so can’t comment on that one.
Saha penalty was clearly a penalty though he made the most of it.
I think Joe Cole should have been sent off but again, I don’t think that’s automatic – I disagree with the ref but it is still down to his opinion about how dangerous or otherwise the tackle was.
In summary – I might not have agreed with the decisions but if you actually know the laws of the game you would realise that there is significant room for interpretation of the laws. It is not like the Chelsea offside decison against Blackburn that was clearly, factually, the wrong decision.
I say again, go to http://www.thefa.com and do a refs course somewhere near you… there’s a big shortage… see if you can do better
well Mikel’s ban was rejected. I guess this proves that even after video evidence was studidies, the call was still deemed worthy of a red card (do not say that this happened because they could not downgrade it to a yellow card because they could have upheld the ban for only one game rather than the whole three…)
PS
If the ref initially said to show 2 mins injury time, that will usually be relayed to the 4th official (who holds up the board) a couple of minutes before the 45th minute of the half.
Therefore, if he told the 4th official in, for example, the 43rd minute, that there was 2 minutes injury time, then there is 4 minutes from the time he tells the 4th official to the time that the game is likely to end. Within those 4 minutes, if the ref decides that someone has wasted time, there is a substitution, an injury or whatever then he is free to add on as much time as necessary on top of the original 2 minutes. I didn’t see the game live so I don’t know if that is a possibility – but the 2 minutes is a guide to players and fans, it is NOT the limit that the referee is allowed to play for.
i like chelsea but i am afried of what may happen as morino is not there and the new coach has stated so badly i do not accept him.
Fith Collumn, I am pretty sure about the rule that says that if only two minutes are added then only two are played unless there is an excepitonal case. I do not know if it is in the prem rules, but it certainly is in the FIFA guidelies.
elvis, what do you mean “started so badly”? it is not hard to lose 2-0 at old trafford especially without drogba or lamps. and playing with only ten men for the better part of an hour, you have to be grateful that man utd were not on there day or we might have seen 4 or 5 goals the way terry and ben haim were defending….
Andrei
I don’t know about the specific match in question because I only saw the highlights.
However, if there are subs or injuries or time-wasting after the board is held up then a referee can add on as much time as is necessary. Otherwise, once the “2 minutes” is up, players could deliberately time-waste, feign injury etc in the knowledge that after 2 minutes the ref would have to blow the whistle.
To Brian W,
By arguing Mikel’s red card is valid does not represent our ignorance to football. Instead it represents that you are watching replays through blue tinted glasses. Mikel overhit the ball and it ran faster than he could catch. Evra was clearly going to nick the ball away from Mikel. Mikel, instead of trying to get the ball, decides to intimidate Evra by raising his studs towards the ball in general (but the intimidation was clearly aimed at Evra’s ankles). Evra failed to jump away and was duly caught.
Take off your blue tinted glasses and watch the replays again before claiming any thoughts contrary to yours are ignorant.