Premier League clubs are demanding more consistency on refereeing clampdowns.
Referees went into every top flight club in the summer to outline new directives which included delaying the restart of games and surrounding referees.
Top UEFA referee Anthony Taylor, one of the Premier League ’s top officials, spoke to the Arsenal players before the start of the season and warned them refs will be on red alert on stopping quick free kicks.
The message was it will be a yellow card if the offence is “clear, deliberate and impactful on the game.” It came because in the 2022/23 season there were 118 cases of delaying a restart and that neatly DOUBLED to 215 in 2023/24.
Declan Rice fell foul of the new directive as he was booked – and sent off as it was a second yellow card – during Arsenal’s draw with Brighton on Saturday.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was fuming after the game and the club are frustrated with the inconsistencies with decisions over the past weekend. And across the board, perceived inconsistencies is the biggest issue for all managers.
Gunners fans have pointed to EIGHT other decisions in the Premier League where players were not punished for delaying quick free kicks.
They have also picked up on an amusing clip from referee Dermot Gallagher’s weekly Ref Watch slot on Sky Sports each Monday.
Gallagher, who is not part of the PGMOL team and is employed directly by Sky, defended referee Chris Kavanagh for sending off Rice for a second yellow as he appeared to kick the ball away before Joel Veltman went to take a free kick but ended up booting the Arsenal midfielder.
But eagle-eyed fans have spotted a “carbon copy” of the Rice incident from three years ago involving former Arsenal midfielder Henri Lansbury, playing for Luton back in 2021, when he kicked Swansea’s Ryan Manning up into the air.
Lansbury escaped with a yellow card and and ex-top flight referee Gallagher reviewed the incident at the time and said he “could not understand why it it’s not a red card” with Warnock and Smith calling it “incredible.”
Anthony Taylor had previously warned Arsenal players that top-flight referees would be watching out for those who stopped quick free-kicks
But while they lambasted Lansbury, Gallagher admitted that Veltman “maybe” knew what he was doing but still absolved the Brighton defender from any blame.
There is still disbelief that Wolves ’ Yerson Mosquera escaped a red card despite grabbing Kai Havertz round the throat in Arsenal’s opening game while Rice got his marching orders for allegedly kicking the ball away.
There are claims there were EIGHT separate incidents last weekend – involving Dejan Kulusevski, Marc Guehi, Marc Cucurella, Pedro Porro, Diogo Dalot, Joelinton, Bruno Guimarães and Cole Palmer – where players delayed a quick restart but went unpunished.
And in the same game at the Emirates, Joao Pedro escaped punishment for kicking the ball away in front of the technical area and Danny Welbeck was also not booked despite motioning an imaginary card which is a yellow card offence.
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In the late stages of the game, Brighton defender Pervis Estupiñán also picks up the ball and boots it away before a free kick.
Wolves tried to outlaw VAR at the back end of last season while there is general discontent about refereeing standards and the PGMOL.
There was disquiet at the end of last season among clubs about the PGMOL and questions about why there has not been a greater improvement of standards under Howard Webb.
