Made in Wigan
Vital Champions League
The bloke who fouled for the penalty wasn’t sent off because (as it wasn’t dangerous play) it would only have been a red if it had denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
When Powell was fouled he was 6 yards from the ball so how was that even remotely a goal scoring opportunity unless he has Inspector Gadget legs??
And it wasn’t a head butt from Williams. He ran at him from a short distance with his head down & barged him with his shoulder - no different to 2 players barging into each other with their chests as we see all the time after a bad foul. Powell deliberately threw him to the ground. A Caution for both for adopting an aggressive attitude was the right decision.
He’d clearly lost his head and was gonna get sent off soon & so should have been pulled by Rowett but none of his other challenges after that were worthy of a 2nd yellow even though you could see what was coming until the foul on Windass
Thought the officials were good tonight & Latics were even better!!
Mighty, I must say I enjoy your views from the perspective of a referee. However I respectfully disagree with your interpretation!
On both Saturday and last night we've had players deliberately hauled down yards from the centre of the goal when they would have had a clear and obvious goal scoring opportunity. The defenders clearly thought they were as they cynically prevented them from reaching the ball. In these situations any benefit of doubt whether they'd reach the ball should be with the attacker - on Saturday there was little doubt, last night is more debatable I concede. However the fact there is debate should mean the referee gives the benefit of doubt to the forward given the intent behind the foul. I think the rule change is the right move for making a genuine attempt to play the ball, but pulling someone back doesn't fall in that category and in these two instances a red card should have been shown.
Re the use of the head: The camera angle isn't conclusive but from behind the goal he led and caught him with his head with some force. It was an act of aggression and petulance. His continuing mouthing off should have told the ref he was out of control and lost the plot. In fact this was evidenced by his late foul (missed by official ) on the same player a minute later and then again minutes after that. He last foul was just ludicrous.
As you know from my posts I don't do so through rose tinted glasses. If one of our players is out of order I say so. If it was evans leading with the head again I'd be very critical, as I was last season and would say he should be dismissed. If we had hauled down players in the 6 yard box as per those two incidents I would say they should be dismissed. Unlike Saturday thankfully poor officiating didn't cost us last night.