DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
RateTheRef
HTML https://ratetheref.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: General Discussion
*****************************************************
#Post#: 96527--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: Adam
Date: October 19, 2025, 2:00 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Scally Bob link ---
>
> On my way home from the game now and still unhappy about the
game not being stopped for a clear head injury. I thought Oliver
was inconsistent throughout. What on earth was that drop ball?
Why was there no sanction when Gravenberch was injured by a
reckless challenge?
>
> Liverpool were poor but the referee’s performance was worse.
>
--- End Quote ---
It just didn't feel like it was "Oliver" standard, it was very
much of the wishy washy nature you expect from some of the other
officials. The dropball, the no stoppage for head injury and the
decision to give Casemiro a foul early on were all very strange
decisions. However before I get accused of adding to a
"Liverpool fan forum (absolute rubbish by the way, it's as bad
when other teams play), his performance didn't affect the fact
that the deserved result was reached.
#Post#: 96528--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: rustyref
Date: October 19, 2025, 2:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
It is unfortunately the boy who cried wolf story. Players go
down clutching their head when they've been flicked on the arm,
so referees have to make a judgement call. I've seen Mac
Allister do it himself in previous games, so whilst he genuinely
did have a head injury this time he is part of the problem.
#Post#: 96531--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: DublinRef
Date: October 19, 2025, 3:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Adam link ---
>
> [quote author=Scally Bob link=topic=7326.msg96522#msg96522
date=1760897098]
> On my way home from the game now and still unhappy about the
game not being stopped for a clear head injury. I thought Oliver
was inconsistent throughout. What on earth was that drop ball?
Why was there no sanction when Gravenberch was injured by a
reckless challenge?
>
> Liverpool were poor but the referee’s performance was worse.
>
--- End Quote ---
It just didn't feel like it was "Oliver" standard, it was very
much of the wishy washy nature you expect from some of the other
officials. The dropball, the no stoppage for head injury and the
decision to give Casemiro a foul early on were all very strange
decisions. However before I get accused of adding to a
"Liverpool fan forum (absolute rubbish by the way, it's as bad
when other teams play), his performance didn't affect the fact
that the deserved result was reached.
[/quote]
I would agree, I didn't think Oliver was as sharp in general as
he has been this season and as he usually is. Indeed I felt
there were a number of inconsistencies in his performance, on
the whole, however, I think it was more than acceptable.
There is a comment there aimed at me and my post comparing the
initial posts in this thread to what would be read on a fan
forum. So I feel I have to respectfully point out that your
initial comment criticizing the referee had to be edited by the
admins as it was, in part, "not acceptable on this forum" and
the second post on this thread from Irishref1985 simply said
"Absolutely shocking from Oliver" with no analysis or
explanation.
I stand by my remark 100% that they read more like fan forum
posts than the usually thoughtful comments posted by you and
other contributors on here.
As to it being "as bad when other teams play" well, that sort of
'they did it too' defense never carries much weight, doesn't
address the underlying merits of the argument, and moreover I'm
not obliged to comment on everything I see here.
I don't mean to be prickly in my tone, but on reflection, in
this instance, I stand completely by what I said.
#Post#: 96536--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: TA_Ref
Date: October 19, 2025, 4:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: DublinRef link ---
>
> [quote author=Adam link=topic=7326.msg96527#msg96527
date=1760900421]
> [quote author=Scally Bob link=topic=7326.msg96522#msg96522
date=1760897098]
> On my way home from the game now and still unhappy about the
game not being stopped for a clear head injury. I thought Oliver
was inconsistent throughout. What on earth was that drop ball?
Why was there no sanction when Gravenberch was injured by a
reckless challenge?
>
> Liverpool were poor but the referee’s performance was worse.
>
--- End Quote ---
It just didn't feel like it was "Oliver" standard, it was very
much of the wishy washy nature you expect from some of the other
officials. The dropball, the no stoppage for head injury and the
decision to give Casemiro a foul early on were all very strange
decisions. However before I get accused of adding to a
"Liverpool fan forum (absolute rubbish by the way, it's as bad
when other teams play), his performance didn't affect the fact
that the deserved result was reached.
[/quote]
I would agree, I didn't think Oliver was as sharp in general as
he has been this season and as he usually is. Indeed I felt
there were a number of inconsistencies in his performance, on
the whole, however, I think it was more than acceptable.
There is a comment there aimed at me and my post comparing the
initial posts in this thread to what would be read on a fan
forum. So I feel I have to respectfully point out that your
initial comment criticizing the referee had to be edited by the
admins as it was, in part, "not acceptable on this forum" and
the second post on this thread from Irishref1985 simply said
"Absolutely shocking from Oliver" with no analysis or
explanation.
I stand by my remark 100% that they read more like fan forum
posts than the usually thoughtful comments posted by you and
other contributors on here.
As to it being "as bad when other teams play" well, that sort of
'they did it too' defense never carries much weight, doesn't
address the underlying merits of the argument, and moreover I'm
not obliged to comment on everything I see here.
I don't mean to be prickly in my tone, but on reflection, in
this instance, I stand completely by what I said.
[/quote]
Agree with all said. I’d like to add I felt that Oliver seemed
quite detached from the match and it felt the decisions he made,
he made quite tentatively. For the standards that we come to
expect from him, it wasn’t his best day at the office.
#Post#: 96540--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: TA_Ref
Date: October 20, 2025, 2:58 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Also, if anyone’s wondering, there were 6 seconds from when
MacAllister first lay on the floor and when Mbuemo took the
shot.
That’s a very short amount of time to judge whether someone has
a head injury or not. The attack happened so swiftly it would’ve
been very difficult to stop the game when United were attacking.
#Post#: 96543--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: olliebcafc
Date: October 20, 2025, 3:56 am
---------------------------------------------------------
It’s a complete lose-lose situation for Oliver. Firstly there’s
no way he can see if MacAllister is injured, as he’s watching
the play. And if Pawson gets in his ear and tells him to stop it
with United through on goal then we’d never hear the end of it!
I thought he had a decent game but missed a yellow for Cunha at
the end
#Post#: 96545--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: Semi Retired
Date: October 20, 2025, 4:27 am
---------------------------------------------------------
As far as I can tell, nobody is really arguing that the delay to
treatment had any negative consequence to player safety. The
challenge here is the underlying expectation seems to be the
moment a player holds his head, the game is stopped immediately.
Given the potential implications of a head injury the principle
isn’t bad but it does lead to situations where players are
encouraged to feign head injuries to get the game stopped. Not
saying that’s what happened here, it all looked genuine. But
referees are damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
Realistically the delay was a few seconds. Let’s be clear
Liverpool fans are angry because they were expecting a get out
of jail free card for conceding a goal. And that’s not really
the intention of this protocol.
I remember a few years back I was refereeing a game and stopped
because the keeper came off worse in a 50/50 tackle and was down
injured. A couple of seconds after blowing the whistle the ball
was in the back of the net. Cue lots of whinging to me. Had I
not stopped the game I’d have had whinging on the other side.
Sometimes referees have no good option!
#Post#: 96548--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: Ref Fan
Date: October 20, 2025, 5:02 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Can I just say thank you for the more rational posts (Dublin ref
as an example) that put a sensible perspective on Oliver's
performance compared to some of the early rants. And I gather
some comments were removed by the mods.
In case I'm accused of being an Oliver as well as a United fan,
I admit I was none too pleased last season when as VAR he
advised an OFR after which Coote, seemingly reluctantly, awarded
West Ham a penalty which won them the game.
It's ok being critical but not way OTT please.
Having watched the game yesterday, I really didn't see much
wrong with Oliver's performance. The 2 YCs to United players
were correct and yes, he may have missed one. There was no
strong dissent from players or mass confrontations. I only
noticed Van Dyke talking to Oliver after United's first goal
which he dealt with in his normal quiet way. Subsequently there
were a couple of what appeared reasonable conversations with
Fernandes, so while there may have been the odd questionable
decision, I felt his overall handling of what can often be a
potentially difficult encounter was fine.
#Post#: 96553--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: ajb95
Date: October 20, 2025, 7:11 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: olliebcafc link ---
>
> It’s a complete lose-lose situation for Oliver. Firstly
there’s no way he can see if MacAllister is injured, as he’s
watching the play. And if Pawson gets in his ear and tells him
to stop it with United through on goal then we’d never hear the
end of it! I thought he had a decent game but missed a yellow
for Cunha at the end
>
--- End Quote ---
I thought he was fine also. Didn’t agree with amad yellow with
what looked like a perfectly good tackle, but he kept control
was firm with his decisions and contributed to a really decent
game unlike a few in the past
#Post#: 96554--------------------------------------------------
Re: Michael Oliver: Liverpool v Man Utd
DIR By: TA_Ref
Date: October 20, 2025, 7:25 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Adam link ---
>
> [quote author=Scally Bob link=topic=7326.msg96522#msg96522
date=1760897098]
> On my way home from the game now and still unhappy about the
game not being stopped for a clear head injury. I thought Oliver
was inconsistent throughout. What on earth was that drop ball?
Why was there no sanction when Gravenberch was injured by a
reckless challenge?
>
> Liverpool were poor but the referee’s performance was worse.
>
--- End Quote ---
It just didn't feel like it was "Oliver" standard, it was very
much of the wishy washy nature you expect from some of the other
officials. The dropball, the no stoppage for head injury and the
decision to give Casemiro a foul early on were all very strange
decisions. However before I get accused of adding to a
"Liverpool fan forum (absolute rubbish by the way, it's as bad
when other teams play), his performance didn't affect the fact
that the deserved result was reached.
[/quote]
I don’t think no one is denying the fact that there are other
contributors who sometimes ‘act poorly’ and say reactionary
things that they don’t really mean in terms of the officials.
But sometimes you have to look at yourself. You started the
topic at 16:37 - the game hadn’t even restarted from the goal
yet but already a topic has been started on here and being a
Liverpool supporter yourself, you will be quite likely to say
something very reactionary in the heat of the moment that after
a day or two you might regret. I’m not saying you shouldn’t
start polls because that’s not the point, just give yourself a
moment to think what you’re posting from a referees perspective
especially if you’re a fan of one of the teams involved. Then we
won’t have any accusations from any other contributors of team
bias. No one wants to bring it up but when we get reactionary
one line replies from people that don’t give a perspective from
the referees side then you’ll have to expect to be criticised.
I’m sure there are contributors out there who see I’ve created a
topic on an Ipswich game and with people knowing I’m a blue,
they’re probably thinking ‘what is he moaning about?’ Now I try
and give the most balanced viewpoint that I can. Sometimes my
opinion is negative (Donohue in the Preston game) or my opinion
is positive (Donohue in the Middlesbrough game) but whatever way
any decision has gone I’ll try and give myself a moment to think
- is this decision correct? Is it supportable? Because I’m a
qualified official, like others on here, who just want to
discuss or debate around an officials performance.
As DublinRef said, the comments at the start felt like ones
found on a fans forum and with all due respect we don’t want
that, that’s all. Let’s debate in a constructive manner in which
we can praise or be critical of an official but by actually
giving our reasoning from the referees perspective.
*****************************************************
Page 2 of 3
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page