Untold Ref Review: Manchester United 1 – 0 Fulham.

This article is part of a series stretching over several seasons in which a team of referees analyse the work of refs in Premier League matches.

Our figures show that when we analyse the errors made by refs there are consistent trends which do not “even out” through the season, as some commentators would have it.

Today’s referee is Michael Oliver -

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Michael Oliver (2012-03-26)
Period 1
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
3	OTHER	Dempsey	Carrick	C	pull	1
3	OTHER	Rafael	Frei	C	push	1
4	OTHER	Evra	Duff	C	push	1
7	OTHER	Evans	Pogrebniak	NC	Held him down with his hands so he couldn’t jump for a header	1
11	OTHER	Evans	Pogrebniak	NC	Jumped in the back, not given	1
22	OTHER	Carric	Dempsey	C	Trip	1
25	OTHER	Valencia	Frei	C	Push	1
27	OTHER	Young	Duff	NC	pulled the defender back, not given	1
27	OTHER	Dembele	Young	NC	Was an obstruction but only because of the not given foul on Duff	1
30	OTHER	Carrick	Pogrebniak	C	Trip	1
34	OTHER	Evans	Pogrebniak	C	Jumped in the back	1
34	OTHER	Giggs	Dembele	C	Sliding tackle on the man	1
34	YELLOW	Giggs		C	Ref had no option, correct card	2
36	OTHER	Rafael	Frei	NC	Push not given	1
39	OTHER	Duff	Giggs	NC	Trip not given	1
41	PENALTY	Kelly		C	Appeal for handball but was moving his arm away from the ball, correct non call	3
42	GOAL	MU		C	Correct goal	3
44	OTHER	Young	Duff	C	push in the back	1
46	OFFSIDE	MU		C	correct decision	1
Period 2
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
50	OTHER	Kelly	Young	C	Trip	1
57	OTHER	Ferdinand	Pogrebniak	C	Trip	1
61	OTHER	Giggs	Diarra	C	Trip	1
67	OTHER	Valencia	Dembele	C	push	1
68	OTHER	Dembele	Young	C	pull	1
72	OTHER	Valencia	Riise	C	came in a bit late	1
73	OTHER	Evra	Duff	NC	High foot not given	1
73	OTHER	Evans	Pogrebniak	NC	Got man and ball, is a foul	1
74	OTHER	Evans	Ruiz	C	sliding tackle	1
74	YELLOW	Evans		NC	Was late, only got the man, was almost the same as Giggs. Should also have been a yellow	2
82	OTHER	Hughes	Evra	NC	Wild tackle missed the player, advantage given but immediatly lost, should have gone back	1
82	OTHER	Evra	Ruiz	C	clipped his ankle	1
84	OTHER	Scholes	Dempsey	C	Stamp on his leg with his studs	1
84	YELLOW	Scholes		NC	Should have been a yellow card at least, that was a nasty kick	2
86	OFFSIDE	MU		C	correct	1
89	PENALTY	Carrick	Murphy	NC	Carrick kicks the left foot of Murphy, ref gives nothing. Was a penalty	3
89	YELLOW	Carrick		NC	Was a promising attack, could have had a clear shot on goal	2
89	OTHER	Hughes	Young	NC	looking for a foul and went down when Hughes came too close	1
91	OTHER	Javier	Hughes	C	push in the back	1
92	OTHER	Rafael	Duff	C	assumed correct	1
93	OTHER	Ruiz	Young	C	No replay but I wonder if it was another nice dive, but I will give the ref the benefit of the doubt	1

This was a typical Old Trafford performance from the ref. In case of doubt, give the decision the Utd way. And so he did this with a great consistency during the game.

He made a great start, punishing a few small fouls and this lead to a long period with almost no fouls. Well, he didn’t give a few ones against United in that period but Fulham had understood his first calls and didn’t go in for the challenges. A great example on how a ref should start a game, but then he forgot to carry on like he started.

Manchester United appealed for a penalty for a handball, but the Fulham defender had his arm behind his body when the cross came in and the ball rolled a bit over his body and then hit his upper arm. Correct call not to give a penalty.

This cannot be said of the decision late on in the game when Carrick kicked the left foot of Murphy. It was a trip, a foul, and should have been a penalty. But this was Manchester United, this was Old Trafford. This is just how it goes most of the time.

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Michael Oliver (2012-03-26)
Period 1	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	1	1	100.00
OFFSIDE	1	1	100.00
OTHER	9	15	60.00
PENALTY	1	1	100.00
YELLOW	1	1	100.00
TOTAL	13	19	68.42
WEIGHTED	18	24	75.00
Period 2	Called	Total	Correct %
OFFSIDE	1	1	100.00
OTHER	12	16	75.00
PENALTY	0	1	0.00
YELLOW	0	3	0.00
TOTAL	13	21	61.90
WEIGHTED	13	26	50.00
Totals	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	1	1	100.00
OFFSIDE	2	2	100.00
OTHER	21	31	67.74
PENALTY	1	2	50.00
YELLOW	1	4	25.00
TOTAL	26	40	65.00
WEIGHTED	31	50	62.00

The longer the game went on, the poorer the decisions from the ref became. The penalty that was not given was the ultimate low in this game. A total score that is far below what we can expect in the EPL.

BIAS SUMMARY – Michael Oliver (2012-03-26)
Period 1	Manchester United	%	Fulham	%	Total
Correct For	2	15.38	11	84.62	13
Correct For Weighted	4	22.22	14	77.78	18
Incorrect Against	1	16.67	5	83.33	6
Incorrect Against Weighted	1	16.67	5	83.33	6
Fouls Commited	13	81.25	3	18.75	16
Fouls Penalised	9	69.23	1	33.33	10
Period 2	Manchester United	%	Fulham	%	Total
Correct For	3	23.08	10	76.92	13
Correct For Weighted	3	23.08	10	76.92	13
Incorrect Against	1	12.50	7	87.50	8
Incorrect Against Weighted	1	7.69	12	92.31	13
Fouls Commited	13	76.47	4	23.53	17
Fouls Penalised	10	76.92	3	75.00	13
Totals	Manchester United	%	Fulham	%	Total
Correct For	5	19.23	21	80.77	26
Correct For Weighted	7	22.58	24	77.42	31
Incorrect Against	2	14.29	12	85.71	14
Incorrect Against Weighted	2	10.53	17	89.47	19
Fouls Commited	26	78.79	7	21.21	33
Fouls Penalised	19	73.08	4	57.14	23

The bias score is, well, what we can expect of a game at Old Trafford. In case of doubt, give United the decision and you cannot be wrong seems to be what the refs are thinking.