Southampton v Wolves Match Preview

Reading reports that evidently our possession stats on Saturday, at 59%, are self evidently the highest recorded by a team playing away from home in the Premier League with only ten men.

Incredible when it was self evident that we couldn't put a string of 3 passes together before J-Lo arrived.

Lot of stuff being said today about referee abuse. Quite pertinent considering the Lemina incident.

Generally, I'm all in favour of players being sanctioned for verbally abusing refs. Should they be sanctioned for just questioning politely? Should they be sanctioned for even approaching the ref without speaking? Maybe.

The sensible approach might be to use the system as in Rugby Union, where only the captain can question a refs decision. I would accept that but of course, like all decisions, it requires referees to be consistent and, unfortunately, this is often where it all falls apart.

Certainly, what happened to Lemina was ridiculous. I think he shouldn't have run towards the ref, especially as he had already been booked, and he definitely shouldn't have questioned his decision, which I don't think he did.

The worst issue for me was that this action by the ref seems to have been introduced unexpectedly. Twice at the weekend I believe.

Something needs to change, preferably at the beginning of the new season.

And what about a sin bin?

Unfortunately, it's the players who are at fault. Too many rule changes and a lack of respect for officials in my opinion. Some time ago, they introduced a ten yard penalty if a player disputed a decision (similar to rugby), but that soon went out the window. You can lip read the insults and language that are aimed at the refs by players. So until that's addressed and players restrain from foul language, nothing will change.

Just highlights my comment the other day about the lack of good referee's. Who would want that job?

Once players show more respect, there will be a better chance of improvement in the refereeing department.

Part of an article from the BBC website:-

"Hundreds of grassroots referees have told the BBC they fear for their safety when refereeing and are dissatisfied with current measures to tackle abuse.

More than 900 referees in England responded to a Radio 5 Live questionnaire, with 293 saying they had been physically abused by spectators, players, coaches or managers.

Some described being punched, headbutted and spat at.

Almost all the respondents had experienced some form of verbal abuse.

The president of the Referees' Association in England, which distributed the questionnaire to its 7,000 members, says the abuse of match officials is having a significant impact on their mental health and they are only ever "one decision away from a smack in the mouth".

"One day in this country a referee will lose his or her life. It happened in Holland a few years ago and they really changed their culture in football," said Paul Field.

The Football Association (FA) says a small minority of people abuse referees but such behaviour is "completely unacceptable".

It has pledged to "continue to do everything we can" to stamp it out, including stronger sanctions and the launch of a three-year strategy to help tackle the issue.

A trial of referees wearing body cameras in adult grassroots football is planned to start this year."

Fact is that without a ref there's no game. Years ago Cloughie set an example of telling his player to never harass a ref and on at least 2 occasions immediately pulled off a player who did so. Unfortunately his example wasn't followed and the example of managers like Ferguson and Wenger was.

The issue being raised here is not the harassing of referees which I think most people would condemn. The issue is that out of the blue a rule has been invented that the third person confronting the referee would be booked. There doesn’t seem to have been any briefing to clubs that this would happen and certainly no announcement to let fans know what to expect. If this had been properly communicated then players wouldn’t have been caught out and it wouldn’t be controversial

What's the difference between harassing a referee and a third player confronting him? Too often these days, numerous players surround the referee and even touch him, if they don't agree with a decision he's made.

These overpaid, prima donna players are the problem and the sooner they accept decisions that go against them, the better the game will be.

Wolfie missing the point again. There’s a first, or more likely a 1,568th

comment by wolfieinFL (U16306)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
What's the difference between harassing a referee and a third player confronting him? Too often these days, numerous players surround the referee and even touch him, if they don't agree with a decision he's made.

These overpaid, prima donna players are the problem and the sooner they accept decisions that go against them, the better the game will be.
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Obviously the situation escalates and becomes more dangerous when a third party becomes involved, as this is now classified as an affray rather than a public order offence.