20 hours Ago By [email protected] (Jacob Leeks)
Howard Webb has defended his referees in face of accusations of treating Arsenal players differently to those from other Premier League clubs. The Gunners have had run-ins with officials over their tendancy to kick the ball away after a free-kick has been awarded against them. Declan Rice was sent off on the opening day after committing such an offence.
He was followed by Leandro Trossard , who received his marching orders against Manchester City for the same action. But Arsenal fans were left furious when it was pointed out that some players were avoiding punishment. In particular they pointed to Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai avoiding a booking wen he booted the ball away in frustration during injury time of his side's 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest .
Despite the incidents seeming to be similar, PGMOL's chief refereeing officer Webb has insisted the correct action was taken in all three instances. He explained the thinking behind Trossard's booking. "We ask the referees to try and identify situations that are clear, deliberate, and impact on the ability of the other team to restart the game," Webb told the Stick to Football podcast.
"For example, there was a comparison made a couple of weeks ago between what Leandro Trossard did, in the Manchester City vs Arsenal game, and what Dominik Szoboszlai did in the Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest game. HAVE YOUR SAY! Should players kicking the ball away always be booked? Comment below . "They are incomparable in terms of the impact – one happened on a free kick to Manchester City, in an attacking area in added time at the end of the first half.
Trossard kicked the ball away and prevented City from being able to even think about restarting the game quickly, which I’m sure they would want to as it was 2-1 to Arsenal at the time." Convesely, Webb insisted that Szoboszlai was only wasting Liverpool's time, with Forest leading at that point. He added that it would have been 'crazy' for the Liverpool star to be booked in that instance.
“The other one, Liverpool were down at home to Forest, 1-0, it’s in 90+4 minutes, and there’s an offside or a foul given against Liverpool, and Szoboszlai, in frustration, kicks the ball across the penalty area," Webb said. "He’s wasting his own time. It would be crazy for us to caution him at that point for kicking a ball away, when Forest would be saying ‘thanks a lot’.
(If we cautioned him) we’d be seen as totally out of touch with the game in that situation. "Whereas the other one was impactful on City being able to restart the game. In that situation, there were City players ready to restart, but there were no Forest players around and they wouldn’t have restarted quickly anyway.
People ask us to understand the game, so that made total sense to me.” Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
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