The season has only just started yet I find myself discussing poor refereeing. After the dreadful outing of the cardholders during the World Cup, I thought it could not get any worse and the quality of this season’s Premier League officiating will be far better.
On Monday night, Chelsea took on Burnley at Turf Moor. Michael Oliver was the man officiating. It was evident within the first 15 minutes that Chelsea were not going to get the rub of the green when a foul leading up to the Burnley goal was wrongly called against John Terry.
Oliver didn’t improve much, with the scores at 1-1 he aided the argument for technology when he booked Diego Costa for a dive, when in fact The Clarets goalkeeper should have seen red with a resulting penalty for the Blues.
This decision baffled the majority of supporters as it wasn’t only the wrong one, Oliver was in the wrong place to make the call because he was so far behind the play.
Diego Costa was given very little on the night, despite being regularly man-handled by the Burnley defence. Maybe it was an off night for the officials, like so many others during Chelsea games. Conspiracy theorists would disagree.
No wonder that Jose Mourinho is constantly challenging the referees, and so he should. Match officials can no longer gain protection from the FA when their performances do not warrant protection.
In my opinion, poor officiating cost Chelsea seven points last season, which was the difference between them finishing third and finishing first. Chelsea got very few big decisions in their favour.
This just doesn’t apply to Chelsea, the smaller teams are constantly getting harsh treatment when they come up against a big gun. Every club can present an example of poor officiating. This is why change is needed.
Everyone else in this game has to be held accountable for their actions. Mourinho should know that well. It is about time referees became accountable too.