Hard-hitting Patrick Vieira has come out fighting for Manchester City – and says he fears referees are in danger of killing the Premier League’s golden goose.
The World Cup winner has expressed the annoyance and frustration which has been coursing through the club as City have had the rough end of some inconsistent decisions by referees and the FA’s disciplinary department.
The Blues lost skipper Vincent Kompany for four games for a red card in the FA Cup derby, when far worse challenges – including Liverpool’s Glen Johnson’s two-footed challenge three days later – have gone unpunished.
They lost Mario Balotelli for four matches after a video review of his kick to Scott Parker’s head, but reviews of Peter Crouch’s eye-poke on Jonas Olsson, and other dangerous incidents, have resulted in no punishment.
They lost Gareth Barry to two innocuous yellow cards against Liverpool, when repeated fouls of a more serious nature by Charlie Adam were ignored.
City have also not been awarded clear penalties and have fallen to dubious awards and an offside goal at Sunderland.
Now Vieira, the Blues’ Football Development Executive, has made a strong plea with the FA to sort out the inconsistency and confusion, or risk putting the game in jeopardy.
He claimed:
:: Kompany’s red card wasn’t even a foul
:: Fans will be driven away by harsh refereeing
:: The art of tackling is dying
:: Players are confused by messages being sent out
:: Video reviews undermine referee integrity
Kompany himself made an eloquent defence of his own challenge on Nani in the FA Cup defeat by United, and Vieira agrees, saying: “My feeling was that when Vinny went for the tackle, he went for the ball. He went to win the ball.
“For me, it wasn’t a foul. I was quite surprised that the referee gave a foul. I was more surprised that he came out with a red card.
“Ten years ago the game was much more physical. Tackles like that were happening when I was playing at Arsenal – if that was a red card there would have been a sending off in every game I played for Arsenal. It was one of the harshest decisions I’ve ever seen."
Vieira is afraid that attempts to outlaw tough tackles – not dangerous ones – could kill the goose which is laying all the golden eggs.
“As a player you know now there is a camera on your every moment in the game,” he said.
“I think football has changed and we make it really difficult for the referees. The beauty of the English game – especially in the Premier League – is the speed of the game, the passion from the players and the tackling.
“England is the only country in the world where fans in the stadium applaud the striker who has scored but also the defender who wins the ball with a tackle.
“You will not get that anywhere else in the world. Now it looks like you cannot tackle anymore. The refereeing body has to be really careful to not kill the passion of the game. If these changes to the rules mean that there is more of a European pace or style to the Premier League, then I think English fans could get bored and would not come to see the game.
“This is something really special that the referee should not take away.
“I do understand that there are some tackles that are very dangerous, but they have to make a difference between players who go in to win the ball and players who go in to hurt a fellow professional. That is a difference. They have to be careful to not cross the line.”
Manchester City set to unveil former Barca ace Ferran Soriano
Manchester City future in safe hands
England needs to be full of Hart
The FA has said that referees have guidelines over tackles, telling them to take into account whether the force used is excessive, whether studs were up, and whether the player was in control.
However, Vieira believes that such guidelines make it extremely tough for the officials.
“It makes it really difficult for the referee,” said Vieira. “How can the referee make a judgement to see if the player is in control or not?
“If a player gives a tackle to win the ball, he is in control 95 per cent of the time. I think the referee should just be a referee, he thinks what is right and what is wrong.
“If you take the Vinny case, the referee made his decision too quickly. If you look at Nani’s reaction, you can tell that nothing was wrong in that tackle.
“They are sending the wrong message to the referee and making the referee’s job more difficult than it is already by saying you have to check whether the player is in control or not. It’s crazy.”
Vieira also feels that there is still confusion over what is and what is not acceptable, not helped by the video review system, which allows recent clear red-card offences like those by Frank Lampard, Peter Crouch and Benoit Assou-Ekotto, to go unpunished, while others get retrospective bans.
“Confusion is really dangerous, especially for the referee and the refereeing body,” he said.
“They have to be very careful about how they deal with some of the situations. I believe that they’re making the referees’ job more and more difficult.
“The referee has to be a referee, of course, he’s technical and what he studies as a referee, but as a person, as a human being as well. The referee has to make a decision that he thinks is right.
“A good referee is someone who referees with his personality and with common sense, to make the decision that he thinks is right at the moment, not because he is afraid of the consequences – I think that’s not good.”
Balotelli was given a four-match ban when referee Howard Webb said he had not seen the incident, but would have red-carded the player had he done so.
Video evidence appears to show Webb looking at the incident, and even pointing at it.
Vieira feels that inviting the referee to review the video is a poor way of dealing with things.
“Doing that puts the referee in a difficult position,” he added. "Mario didn’t get sent-off, but when you look at the position of the referee, you say ‘How couldn’t he see it?’
“That puts the integrity of the referee in danger because people say ‘the referee has seen it’, and other people say ‘obviously he didn’t see it’.” Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Patrick is correct on all his points, but Fifa and the FA need to help referees and allow the instant replays the viewer is able to see is made available to the fourth official.
At Wigan Athletic for example where Soccer is played on a Saturday, then Rugby is played on the Sunday,the Referee of the Rugby match if he is not sure that a try has been scored makes a quick gesture to the stand where another official watches a replay on TV and then gives his decision. Why has this type of system not been implemented in soccer?
Couldn't have put it better myself, Patrick.
Villa 0-2 City.
Could not agree more Mr Vieira. I reckon refereeing decisions has cost us at least 7 points so far this season.
We are going to win it the hard way that for sure.
The guy oozes class, so lucky to have him at the club, and hope he is here for a long time to come.
Shame we never had him playing for us in his hey day, but what he offers now behind the scenes can be equally as important for the future of Manchester City football club.
Too much is being left to the referees interpretation of the rules rather than his ability to apply the rules to the letter. I've heard a number of former refs on the radio since the VK tackle, and they're just as confused as the current lot. The FA need to get back to the old days whereby the ref would got into each teams changing room and tell them what will pass and what won't and then everyone will know where they stand.
Stop on comments. Glad that the club is now starting to speak out about this.
What goes against us one week will go for us the next. Let's not play the victims and lose sight of actually winning games. FORZA MANCINI.
How amusing: poor ickle Siddy feel the world is against them because a few decisions don't go their way. Welcome to where United have been for several decades. The referees aren't trying to stop your soulless team of mercenaries from winning the title, it's just a sad fact that the standard of refereeing is pretty abysmal at the moment. Listen: as a Red I think Kompany's tackle was excellent. Superb technique and he won the ball fair and square. But the fear for the refs is that most defenders - even in the Premier - can't tackle to that standard every time. I wonder if Kompany can. And if someone tries to emulate it and it goes badly wrong, it's a season-ending - maybe even career-ending injury. Put it this way: would you fancy some of the more-physical defenders to be found plying their trade for Midland sides trying to copy Kompany's tackle when faced with David Silva? Then carry the thought down through the leagues until you reach amateur level: there's going to be mayhem every week if that kind of tackle is permitted. Up front it doesn't matter if you're not as good as you thought you were. Attempt a Rooney bicycle kick ( ah, managed to get that reference in ) and you just look a fool if it doesn't come off. Fail with a tackle and it's very different.
Thoroughly agree with Patrick on these points. That referees make mistakes is human but to reveiw decisions and then just throw arbitrary or even biased judgements around is not acceptable. Let the FA put their house in order.
CTID.
NY Citizen:
For what are you apologising, exactly? You appear to agree with me totally, as the main thrust of my comment was that referees in the premier ain't much cop. You say Chris Foy would not have sent off Kompany without Rooney's intervention. If that is true ( and I'm not sure how you know that it is ) is that not bad refereeing? You mention Rooney's incident against Wigan. I agree and again: poor refereeing. You then slate the FA's poor judgement - United have been doing that for years, so what's your point? I would point out that I said nothing at all about Nani being endangered - I called Kompany's tackle 'excellent' - but you must admit that the two-footed lunge is potentially very dangerous and we can't be in a situation where it's permitted for the referee to wait and find out if defenders are capable of it, cos in most cases the answer will be 'no', and the one tackled will be the one who suffers most.