Anyone who watched the London derby between West Ham United and Chelsea would have been bemused to see referee Mike Dean make Frank Lampard take his penalty kick three times in a row before he awarded the goal. During the first two kicks, Dean ruled
that both Chelsea and West Ham players ran into the penalty area before the ball was kicked. After the third attempt, the goal was awarded and the final score remained 1-1.
Fair play to Mike Dean for upholding the letter of the law. Watching plenty of football matches each week, I’m amazed by how many times we see players make basic mistakes such as foul throws, keepers leaving the goal-line before the penalty is kicked, and when the is ball not in the arc when a corner kick is taken.
What rules of the game that are always broken get on your nerves? Click the comments link below to share your opinions.
On the other hand, the actual penalty call by Dean shouldn’t have been awarded in the first place. Matthew Upson stretched out his leg to successfully knock the ball away from Daniel Sturridge but Upson’s slide ended up connecting with Sturridge and bringing the Chelsea striker down in the box.
It could have been fair play to Mike Dean for applying the letter of the law, but everybody encroached just as much on the awarded penalty as they did on the ones Dean made Chelsea take over. That makes the ref a stupid twat.
MIKE DEAN SUSPENDED IN 2005 FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT[BETTING SYNDICATES],WHY IS HE STLL REFFING IN OUR LEAGUE,AFTER TODAYS PERFORMANCE YOU CAN ONLY THINK HES HAD A BET ON WEST HAM 1-0.
I agree with Bishopville – West Ham encroached on all 3 penalties – in fact many West ham players encroached on all 3 penalties so I think Dean was wrong to do it unless he would have had it retaken had there been a miss which we wont know.
I think he probably regretted awarding the penalty knowing that he had got it wrong and was hoping Frank would eventually miss.
Mike Dean got it right, although it would have been most interesting to see what he would have done had Lampard missed the third since there were 4 West Ham players 3 yards inside the area.
It wasn’t a penalty in the first place Chelsea got extremely lucky today.
1 win in their last 6 games now I think.. boy are they gonna miss Drogba…
stupid refereeing… the west ham players encroached … so they pulled it back 3 times…??? .. uh .. no.. if the west ham players encroach and the penalty is scored.. goal stands.. bad.. bad.. refereeing.. thank goodness frank scored..
Cantona—
There were also Chelsea players for the first two – so that’s a legitimate call, if you insist on doing it right. If there are players from both teams, it could be retaken whether it was scored or missed.
Unbelievable to see so many Hammers in the box on the third kick. If he had missed it…oh man!
Sorry but I’ll never be objective on this. I loathe CFC, its players, Its ground, its new fans, and its culture. I first visited the Bridge in 1988 and it was near empty, smelled badly and they where in the 2nd division.
I’m, also West Ham… but I can say Dean had a bad day all round, and both sides have many examples of poor refereeing.
CFC didn’t expect that sort of West Ham squad today. And its pretty clear that to beat CFC you need to pressure the ball for 90 minutes. The prawn sandwich eaters get all frustrated and get sloppy.
BOTH teams encroached on the first two. When both teams infringe law 14 (penalty kick), it is retaken no matter what the outcome of the kick.
Dean should’ve pulled it back for a fourth if he was following the rule book since players encroached the box on the third pen.
A dive from Sturridge, but there should of have been a pen anyway from the Gabbidon handball in the first half.
Not to mention at least two but maybe three WH players encrouched on their own penalty Diamanti scored!! Why not retake that one then?
And yeah, how convenient to forget the deliberate handball in the first half!!!!
Surely it was a penalty when Green knocked Kalou over as well.
Foul throws are becoming almost the norm, something that should be a scandal in any professional league. Fifa wanted to bring back kick-ins a few years back, maybe they should try again.
Is it just me or was there an approx 6 second rule on keepers holding on to the ball.
Perhaps the most annoying trend the last 15 years has been players, especially defenders practically body checking their opposition in a poor guise of “shepherding” the ball out of play, sometimes they’re not even looking at the ball when they’re blocking off the opposing player, I’m surprised refs don’t call obstruction.
brn442, I agree. Referees should blow the whistle for obstruction a lot more. It’s one of those rules in the book that hardly ever gets called anymore.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Then the refs get slatted for calling a foul thats never called.
The same way people were complaining about players encroaching and goalkeepers off the line on penalties never being called.
Shepherding the ball out of play kills the game the same way that passing the ball back to the goalie used to. If the defender makes no attempt to play the ball, it should be called as obstruction.
I’d like to see the refs take more control of the game between the boxes. There is too much fouling without intent to play the ball. I believe that should be a yellow but refs seem content to just award the free kick.
I’m all for a strong challenge but just kicking someone needs to get the immediate yellow.