Mark Halsey column: Tanganga got too many warnings and I wouldn’t have given West Ham pen… but refs and VAR were generally good as Premier League returned
It was great to have the football and the fans back this weekend. So much better with that atmosphere in grounds up and down the country.
Looking over the action, I was pleased with the overall standard of refereeing and VAR. That’s what we wanted to see.
Officials being a bit more lenient, not giving out yellow cards like confetti. VAR not getting involved in every decision and re-refereeing. Exactly how it should be.
I thought that Jacob Murphy got the ball in the Newcastle vs West Ham game when Martin Atkinson awarded a penalty.
Martin felt he got the man as well and gave the spot-kick. You look at it and think it’s very harsh, but it’s a subjective decision.
Last season VAR would’ve got involved, but irrespective of that, being subjective means VAR should never get involved. So it worked brilliantly on that occasion.
MORE: Liverpool chasing highly-rated Barcelona star
On the whole, there were good performances all round from the officials.
Michael Oliver kicked it off well at Brentford on Friday night, but it is early days and there wasn’t a lot of intensity.
Former Premier League and FIFA referee Mark Halsey is a columnist for CaughtOffside.com
One thing I would say if there are young referees out there… Anthony Taylor, when he spoke to Japhet Tanganga… he warned him once and indicated that next time he committed an offence he would be cautioned.
Taylor then called both captains all the way over for Tanganga’s next infraction.
If you tell a player you’re going to caution them, you have to do it, not give two final warnings. There was no need to drag Hugo Lloris all the way out from his goal.
The post Mark Halsey column: Tanganga got too many warnings and I wouldn’t have given West Ham pen… but refs and VAR were generally good as Premier League returned appeared first on CaughtOffside.