| I'm probably in the minority here on this. 08:57 - Nov 5 with 1073 views | homer_123 |
Fully appreciate he got a few decisions wrong but the fact the Ref was happy for both teams to be physical and wasn't buying a lot of the falling over going on, I thought added to the game.
Football is a contact sport, it seems to be a directive this year but Ref's letting a lot more go/ or not blowing up for the obvious falling over (i.e. 15 stone bloke topples over with the slightest hand on his back).
Caveat being he maybe was lenient with getting his card out but thought it was a good, spicy game. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 08:59 - Nov 5 with 1033 views | hype313 |
Yeah I'm all for freeflowing game and enjoy the physicality, just thought there were a couple of blatant yellows and arguably a strong red.
Fine to let the game flow, but also card people appropriately. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:00 - Nov 5 with 1026 views | homer_123 |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 08:59 - Nov 5 by hype313 |
Yeah I'm all for freeflowing game and enjoy the physicality, just thought there were a couple of blatant yellows and arguably a strong red.
Fine to let the game flow, but also card people appropriately. |
Yup, hence the caveat - def card light. | |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:04 - Nov 5 with 999 views | dirtyboy |
I think in reality, we've all been conditioned to expecting stops in play for refs giving stuff that shouldn't really be given, and if every ref behaved how he did, then the game may actually be better for it lol
It was hugely frustrating though, but yeah, there was a bit of me that quite enjoyed the knowledge that nothing was really being given for body checks small pushes that wouldn't in most cases get a guy like Kipre to sail to the floor. |  | | |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:13 - Nov 5 with 954 views | Trequartista |
I thought there were two things going on with the ref. One, he was a homer as far as free-kicks were concerned (zero given to Watford for fouls in the first half), but on the other hand he was not giving yellow cards for yellow card tackles by Watford. So he was annoying both sets of fans equally. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:14 - Nov 5 with 944 views | Garv |
100%. Said this multiple times last night.
We've been brainwashed into thinking everything is a foul because footballers are such good con artists.
The one on Kipre on the left touchline was particularly funny. Felt a touch in his back, clearly still had balance but threw himself to the floor in an attempt to get a cheap free kick and the ref told him to get up. Superb. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:31 - Nov 5 with 864 views | Swansea_Blue |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:14 - Nov 5 by Garv |
100%. Said this multiple times last night.
We've been brainwashed into thinking everything is a foul because footballers are such good con artists.
The one on Kipre on the left touchline was particularly funny. Felt a touch in his back, clearly still had balance but threw himself to the floor in an attempt to get a cheap free kick and the ref told him to get up. Superb. |
Yep, it was great to see. I hate it when people buy fouls when shielding the ball. Everyone knows they’re doing it, so it’s about time we had a harder line against people throwing themselves to the floor. It would probably improve the game too, as defenders wouldn’t have a get out of jail free card. They’d have to deal with the ball in tight spaces and potentially concede more throw ins and corners. It would need to be consistently applied though. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:35 - Nov 5 with 839 views | MrPotatoHead |
I thought he was OK, he let the game flow and did his best to facilitate a football match breaking out which it did. Rather that than hear his whistle every 30 seconds.
I don't really think the yellow card (or lack of) is a huge deal, it was a good game with a bit of needle but I don't think any player really crossed a line and deserved a red.
I thought he was a bit soft on their keeper wasting time though, he held the ball for 20 seconds in injury time, but no corner to us. |  | | |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:42 - Nov 5 with 813 views | bsw72 |
I thought the ref was good with the majority of decisions and as for the yellow cards, again I think we as fans have become conditioned to seeing them brandished too easily.
He let the game flow, was consistent across both teams and as such improved the game and the atmosphere. I am getting fed up with players going down too easily and disrupting the game. [Post edited 5 Nov 2025 9:43]
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 09:45 - Nov 5 with 799 views | bluelagos |
He was clearly more lenient on the physical side that others and was consistent which was cool.
Where he let himself down was in the way he allowed himself to be bullied (primarily by Watford players) into not booking players in the first half.
It meant some rough stuff got free kicks when it should have clearly meant a booking too.
A couple were inexplicable from my view, albeit the ref was closer and will have a different angle. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:22 - Nov 5 with 646 views | southnorfolkblue |
The frustration for me is the lack of consistency. Hirst gets booked for his first bad tackle, but their number 5 committed foul upon foul in the first half |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:39 - Nov 5 with 608 views | GeoffSentence |
I liked the general approach too. I do think he should have got a card out earlier though, when Akpom was chopped down at thigh level would have been good, might have stopped things going a bit over the top later on. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:42 - Nov 5 with 596 views | GeoffSentence |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:22 - Nov 5 by southnorfolkblue |
The frustration for me is the lack of consistency. Hirst gets booked for his first bad tackle, but their number 5 committed foul upon foul in the first half |
I think HIrst had lost his head a bit there, was frustrated at not getting a free kick he felt he should have had and went charging in very aggresively for thre next challenge. I wasn't surprised he was booked for that. | |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:51 - Nov 5 with 570 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
Modern day footballers constantly look for free kicks and in the PL you usually get them but the refs can’t win. If he blew up everytime someone went down it would be “making it all about him”
If he try and let it go, it’s Watford dirty tactics doing us. Can’t have it both ways, we got a soft one that led to Nunez first free kick Saturday, everyone would be losing it if it was the other way round. |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 13:35 - Nov 5 with 500 views | Vaughan8 |
Totally agree. I'd much rather have the ref last night than some other refs who stop it constantly. As people have said, the refs can't win.
The only annoyance was, that if he booked a few of their players after 3 or 4 fouls they would have stopped 9and the game would have flowed even more). He didn't so they just kept carrying on. | | | |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 13:41 - Nov 5 with 482 views | MrBeckinsale |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:22 - Nov 5 by southnorfolkblue |
The frustration for me is the lack of consistency. Hirst gets booked for his first bad tackle, but their number 5 committed foul upon foul in the first half |
With regards consistency, it's a shame that referees in general don't show that kind of consistency. If another ref had refereed that game last night, a completely different game would've played out I would imagine, and would've been stop/start. | | | |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 13:43 - Nov 5 with 464 views | FrimleyBlue |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 12:22 - Nov 5 by southnorfolkblue |
The frustration for me is the lack of consistency. Hirst gets booked for his first bad tackle, but their number 5 committed foul upon foul in the first half |
Hirsts was more of a revenge tackle tough |  |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 14:16 - Nov 5 with 392 views | southnorfolkblue |
| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 13:43 - Nov 5 by FrimleyBlue |
Hirsts was more of a revenge tackle tough |
Yep that's fair and you're probably right to say it deserved a yellow but their number 5 had committed at least 2 worse tackles in the first half | |
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| I'm probably in the minority here on this. on 14:20 - Nov 5 with 384 views | portmanking |
I'm all for telling players to get up and get on with the game. But who's to say the referee vs Swansea will adopt the same mindset?
If we knew all refs were going to take a more lenient line and let games flow more, you could accept it, but there's just no consistency.
It's ridiculous when you think about it more deeply. An industry that costs millions and is worth tens more has a regulatory (refereeing) framework that's not in the least bit black and white. [Post edited 5 Nov 2025 14:20]
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