What does Michael Oliver see?

Hey, it’s Sunday.

There’s not much going on from an Arsenal perspective, but I see our old friend Michael Oliver is up to his nonsense again. In the FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Milwall, Liam Roberts (Milwall’s keeper) came out to challenge Jean-Philippe Mateta, and caught the striker on the side of the head with his studs. Video here – it’s not pretty.

The Palace striker needed oxygen, and subsequently was taken to hospital where his injury – ‘a severe laceration to his left ear’ – required 25 stitches. He’s obviously going to be out of action for some time. And when the incident happened, Michael Oliver did nothing. He played on. And as you can see from the header image, his view wasn’t in any way obscured.

A VAR intervention brought about the right decision, a red card for Roberts, but what if this had happened in the last round when that technology was not used? Serious questions have to be asked of this man now. At best, he has a serious issue with his eyesight, at worst his decision making is inexplicable and in yesterday’s scenario he 100% shirked his responsibility to ensure the safety of the players, Mateta in particular.

Without wanting to make this about Arsenal, it’s very difficult for me to understand how the same referee can see Myles Lewis-Skelly trip up Matt Doherty and issue a straight red card for ‘serious foul play’, yet sees this challenge yesterday and somehow view it as less serious than that in real time. That cannot be right, or acceptable in any way.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve written on this blog how this current crop of PGMOL referees turn a blind eye to serious foul play and violent challenges which could seriously injure players. I think Mateta, despite having 25 stitches, is pretty lucky that’s all he suffered. It’s not to downplay it, but the potential damage that challenge could have done – with metal studs going head height, eye height, straight into a player – is far more serious than that.

For me, challenges like this – while thankfully rare – are a product of an environment in which players know that they can push the boundaries of acceptable physicality in games of football, and get away with stuff. It was, probably, a rush of blood moment for Liam Roberts, a really bad decision, and it’s hard to reconcile the idea he wanted to go out and kick someone in the head. But in the Premier League and below, referees have – under the administration of Howard Webb – unquestionably been instructed that there should be a very high bar for what is considered violent conduct or serious foul play (unless you’re an 18 year old kid playing for Arsenal). Roberts made a terrible decision and will get a three match ban (it should be more), but Oliver also made a terrible decision and will likely officiate a top-flight game next week.

When you see stuff like this, where the so-called ‘best referee in England’ doesn’t react to an appalling incident, you have to call it out and say it’s just not good enough. The fact a challenge like this came on the same day we learned of a new edict from IFAB, where a referee can issue a corner if a goalkeeper holds onto the ball for more than 8 seconds, felt somewhat appropriate too. This focus on minor infractions at the expense of getting more important decisions right is infuriating, but they love it. It gives them an easy way opportunity to demonstrate their ‘authority’, when the best way to do it would be good at your job on a consistent basis.

You can be quite sure PGMOL referees will be itching to be the first to crack down a keeper holding the ball for half a second too long, but at the same time will turn a blind eye to someone raking their studs down an opponent’s Achilles, or countless variations of nasty, dangerous tackles that go without sufficient punishment. ‘Kicking the ball away’, delaying the restart, only the captain can talk to the ref, whatever bullshit new rule they introduce at the start of the season and then forget about after a couple of months.

I get that refereeing is a difficult job, and split-second decisions are hard to make accurately all the time, but some of them are really easy and this was one of them. If, as a referee, you’re willing to give a red card for a trip, but unwilling to do the same for a challenge like this, then it’s not at all unreasonable that people ask questions of your decision making. And there should be plenty of questions for Michael Oliver, and Howard Webb, in the wake of this incident.

Best wishes to Mateta, I hope he makes a speedy recovery. Have a great Sunday folks.