[6/6] So, a particularly bad day in the office for Attwell and Pawson.
By the way, Pawson has curiously been paired with Man United far more frequently since Carrick was appointed. 3 times in the 5 months before, 5 times in the 2 months after. Just noticed that.
[5/6] Fans are always highlighting these situations, usually in infuriated talks about Arsenal's "dark arts". Based on the new rules for this season, these should always result in free kicks or penalties, depending on the offending side.
This is very inconsistently applied. And again yesterday
[4/6] Interestingly, there was another offence that went totally undetected, and could have led to disallowing United's second goal.
On the corner, Amad is clearly holding and impeding Petrovic who cannot move to catch the ball before it goes behind him.
[3/6] On Maguire's red card, perhaps it is soft, but defenders ask for trouble when putting arms on the opponent's body. Since the act is deemed an offence, the excessive force becomes a subjective interpretation and VAR will hardly intervene there.
The moment you do that, it can always be a foul
[2/6] Yesterday, all penalty incidents were pretty clear. And on the one he judged not to be a foul, Attwell had a good close view of the incident so he shouldn't have missed it.
Perhaps he didn't feel the courage to give 2 penalties in quick succession?
But Pawson at VAR should have helped him.
Unfortunately, Stuart Attwell seems to be making crucial errors every time he goes on the pitch or in front of a monitor, and #BOUMUN was yet another confirmation of that.
He once famously awarded a ghost goal, so the expectations are always pretty low, aren't they?
[1/6]
None of these match officials have had any midweek appointments so they should all be fresh and rested for the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
So let's see John Brooks' history with both clubs
ARS
- as Ref 6 games, 4W 1D 1L, 11 yellows 0 reds
- total ref+VAR 26 games, 15W 7D 4L
MCI
- As Ref 10 games, 6W 1D 3L, 14 yellow 0 reds
- total ref+VAR 26 games, 17W 4D 5L
This looks more even
The other officials are
- aREF Neil Davies
- aREF Steve Meredith
- 4th Thomas Bramall
- VAR John Brooks
- aVAR Daniel Robathan
a mix of Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Leicestershire
And then with Manchester City:
- as Ref, 10 games, 5W 1D 4L, 18 yellows 1 red
- total (ref+VAR), 27 games, 15W 8D 4L
These numbers look slightly in favour of Arsenal, but this is merely speculation as the outcome will be decided on the pitch, of course
Including those games, this is his history with both clubs (in the PL, that's the data I track), starting with Arsenal:
- as Ref, 10 games, 7W 1D 2L, 12 yellows 0 reds
- total (ref+VAR), 29 games, 18W 5D 6L
Premier League referee Peter Bankes will officiate the Carabao Cup final in 2026
So, Peter Bankes will be the referee in the #ARSMCI Carabao Cup final (www.efl.com/news/2026/ma...)
He is (unofficially) an Everton fan, and he has officiated this fixture twice in the Prem
- 2020-21 (VAR), ARS-MCI 0-1 (ref was Jonathan Moss)
- 2024-25 (Ref), ARS-MCI 5-1 (VAR was Paul Tierney)
One thing to note is that Simon Hooper has been missing for some time: his last game was #WHAMUN in Matchweek 27.
He had another period off the pitch between matchweeks 10 and 14 (included), following a hamstring injury mid-game in #BRELIV, but this time there is no official info about his absence
Two officials appear in "repeated" appointments this weekend:
- Darren England is the ref in #BHALIV and was the VAR in the reverse fixture
- Tony Harrington is aVAR in #FULBUR and was the VAR in the reverse fixture
So, fewer controversial appointments this weekend, but there are fewer games ๐
The workload is not as bad as usual either, with only 4 referees having less than 24h rest between matches and none of them going on-field:
- Pawson VAR in #FULBUR
- Howard VAR in #NEWSUN
- Barrott 4th in #AVLWHA
- Kavanagh 4th in #TOTNFO
In terms of conflict, there isn't much this matchweek apart from the recurring local referee for Manchester clubs and a couple other apps
- Donohue as 4th in #BOUMUN
- Howard from London as VAR in #EVECHE
- Attwell from Nuneaton (near Birmingham) as VAR in #AVLWHA
Europe's top leagues have been summoned to a meeting with UEFA in the summer to discuss how VAR is being used.
As reported previously, Rosetti (head of UEFA referees) is fed up with VAR regularly used beyond "Clear and Obvious", particularly in the PL and Serie A
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Igor Tudor charged by the FA for misconduct: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
It has taken even more than with Rodri (18 days v 13), but he has less time to appeal (4 days v 7).
Let's see what the outcome will be and when we'll know about it
Here are the match officials for Matchweek 31.
Obviously, only 8 PL games because of the Carabao Cup ( #WOLARS already played and #MCICRY will happen later): www.premierleague.com/en/news/4610...
I'm a tad offline these days but analyses will follow
The officials for the Carabao Cup final (March 22nd): x.com/FA_PGMOL/sta...
But it's Sam Barrott who travels the most between his matches and in the shortest time (Thu to Sun): from home to Genk, then #SUNBRI and finally #NFOFUL... 1240mi or 2000km.
He will take on the on-field role at the end of this journey, so very likely exhausted ๐ฅต
PGMOL should take that into account
If we look at the midweek apps as well, Attwell is on a ๐พ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ shift: from the FA Cup to the Europa League to #ARSEVE and finally #BREWOL (note that in his FA Cup match, he was again paired with Brentford).
A lot of work for the official who is already the most used this season (75 games).
The refs on a double shift will all have less than 24h rest.
They are:
- #CRYLEE Bramall, Betts, Tierney, C. Taylor
- #MUNAVL Gillett, West
- #NFOFUL Barrott, Smith, Perry, Madley
The shortest is for Bramall and Tierney: just ~15h between the end of #CHENEW and when they're due for #CRYLEE
Regarding repeated appointments and frequency, the odd ones this week are
- Bramall is the on-field ref in #CRYLEE as he was in #LEECRY
- Attwell paired with Everton for the 10th time this season (VAR in #ARSEVE), that's a third of the season with the same official, in any role (so far, 6W 1D 2L)
So, if you're to seek conspiracies, here's one for you: City will have a potentially very favourable on-field referee (and assistant), as well as the most tired team.
Anyhow, more analyses soon
and then
- Howard from London, as VAR in #BREWOL
By the way, West Ham and Brentford both played well over 120' last night in the FA Cup, but West Ham will play the next match on Saturday (v City) while Brentford plays on Monday. Perhaps it would have been more fair to give them a similar rest
Starting with the usual conflicts:
- Taylor in #MUNAVL despite PGMOL's policy against same-city appointments
- Oliver in #WHUMCI, which unfortunately has this constant shadow cast on, because he was sent to officiate in the UAE expensed by City owners (same as assistant Burt, also on this match)
Match officials for the weekend have been announced: www.premierleague.com/en/news/4610...
My analyses will follow.
Way over a month to reach this verdict... ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ
www.thefa.com/news/2026/ma...
It's even more embarrassing for the FA when you read the PDF, because it's no different from most of the previous cases.
See previous threads for more details:
bsky.app/profile/pgmo...
Thank you!