Ref yesterday

[Beamer]

Haven't seen many comments about the ref yesterday. He might have got a couple of things wrong (on both sides) but seemed to me to be pretty even handed.
Didn't think Odoi gave him much option for the second yellow though the first was a bit harsh and obviously took the view that Fred hadn't been worse than clumsy and keen to get the ball (or got a word in his ear from the touchline official).
Could easily have sent Grealish off but overall thought he had a pretty decent game and had to smile when he sent Terry away with a flea in his ear when he was trying to get in his face.

[SP]

Pretty much as I saw it. On another day it could've been different but that's football.

I don't imagine too many of their fans criticised the ref in their semi-final when he failed to send off their keeper & meaning he'd miss the final?

[Milo]

Couldn't understand the other thread where people were claiming the referee was poor. He had an excellent game and made a huge difference.

He especially suited our style as was quick to give out cards for any heavy Villa tackles trying to break up our play eg Chester first 10 minutes. I think Villas plan was to really get among us and this yellow put them into a state of purgatory not knowing how to manage the game.

[Holders]

He seemed to want to let the game run even though he seemed to miss some things. On the other hand, the second yellow for Odoi rather spoilt it as a football spectacle for neutrals and those watching on TV. To my mind he should have blown for the foul on Fred moments before Odoi's challenge anyway.

[grandad]

A reasonable performance except from Bruce´s point of view, but that is him just trying to divert the blame from his poor tactics.
Having seen the Fredericks "stamp" I don´t think it was deliberate as he was looking forward to where the ball was & not down to see where he was planting his foot. Over exuberance to get the ball, yes, but not wreckless with intent.
The Grealish assault on Cairney did deserve a red as it was pre-meditated & likely to cause serious injury.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Refs make mistakes in every game just like players but it the inconsistency that's the problem.

Yesterday, some of Villa's foul tackles seemed just as bad as Odoi's first but escaped any yellow cards!

If your going to ref the game by the book all the time a lot of games would end up 8 v 8, the problem is they are inconsistent.

[Ronnief]

If the ref had viewed the tackle by Odoi from my view, he would not have booked him for the first booking.  Odoi clearly won the ball and it was not a bookable offence.  One question I ask is why refs don't book the first bad challenge as in the case of the first tackle by Jedinak. That was a deliberate attempt to bring the man down, not an attempt at playing the ball and he only gives a foul. An early booking may prevent similar challenges throughout the match. It really bugs me when teams deliberately target players like Cairney early on and the refs let them get away with it.

[bill taylors apprentice]

If the ref had viewed the tackle by Odoi from my view, he would not have booked him for the first booking.  Odoi clearly won the ball and it was not a bookable offence.  One question I ask is why refs don't book the first bad challenge as in the case of the first tackle by Jedinak. That was a deliberate attempt to bring the man down, not an attempt at playing the ball and he only gives a foul. An early booking may prevent similar challenges throughout the match. It really bugs me when teams deliberately target players like Cairney early on and the refs let them get away with it.

Exactly !!!

[SP]

Thank God we didn't have one of the poorer Championship refs, they literally would've kicked us off the park.

[Neil D]

Having seen the Fredericks "stamp" I don´t think it was deliberate as he was looking forward to where the ball was & not down to see where he was planting his foot. Over exuberance to get the ball, yes, but not wreckless with intent.

That's a generous interpretation.  It was a deliberate stamp and worthy of a red card.  On the other hand, Bruce's bleating about how we set out rough up his players is preposterous.

[Deeping_white]

Minus the Grealish booking and the penalty decision for us, I didn't think he did too badly. He tried to let the game flow, and I liked how he went back and booked Chester for taking out Mitro early on, as a lot of ref's wouldn't do that. No ref is perfect but he was a damn sight better than the usual championship standard, and in a game where the stakes are so high it was always going to be nervy, but whilst he potentially could've been better, he could've been a hell of a lot worse!

[Bassey the warrior]

He was decent, could've given us a penalty but could have given them one too for Fred pulling Grealish's shorts in the box. Both times prob should have been reduced to 10.

[Nick Bateman]

Ref had good first half, then watched the "stamp" with Sky condemning it at half-time, and came out as a Villa fan in the second half.  Could have been worse though...

[hovewhite]

Overall thought he was consistent and made good decisions.

[Holders]

I said to the bloke next to me that if we didn't win the game it was down to the last 5 minutes - Johansen's miss, the non-pen on AK and the foul on Fred that wasn't given. As son as I finished what I was saying Odoi got his second yellow. But at least we held on.

[The Enclosurite]

The stamp was an obvious red but only if intentional, that of course depends on how the individual ref sees it.  Some would give, some wouldn't, as proven yesterday.  Grealish has thrown himself to the floor unnecessarily and put himself in a position underneath Fredericks. 

Grealish on Cairney was a definite red whether or not intentional (even if just late), you can't do that.

Odoi was clumsy but a yellow card all day which left the ref no choice as he has already been booked - again though, Grealish has gone down easily.  Did anyone else see that he grabbed his leg when he got kicked around the midriff?

[Holders]

The stamp was an obvious red but only if intentional, that of course depends on how the individual ref sees it.  Some would give, some wouldn't, as proven yesterday.  Grealish has thrown himself to the floor unnecessarily and put himself in a position underneath Fredericks. 

Grealish on Cairney was a definite red whether or not intentional (even if just late), you can't do that.

Odoi was clumsy but a yellow card all day which left the ref no choice as he has already been booked - again though, Grealish has gone down easily.  Did anyone else see that he grabbed his leg when he got kicked around the midriff?

Odoi was careless but was obviously going for the ball - there's no way you'd intentionally kick someone in the ribs right in front of the ref.  Funny how the pain was in Grealish's leg, as you say.

[WolverineFFC]

The stamp was an obvious red but only if intentional, that of course depends on how the individual ref sees it.  Some would give, some wouldn't, as proven yesterday.  Grealish has thrown himself to the floor unnecessarily and put himself in a position underneath Fredericks. 

Grealish on Cairney was a definite red whether or not intentional (even if just late), you can't do that.

Odoi was clumsy but a yellow card all day which left the ref no choice as he has already been booked - again though, Grealish has gone down easily.  Did anyone else see that he grabbed his leg when he got kicked around the midriff?

Exactly on Fred. Is it possible he stamped on Grealish? Yeah, but can we really know for sure? No way. He made a play for the ball and was not looking at the man when he stepped on him, so who knows really.

Grealish shouldn't have laid down on the ground between the man and the ball then left his leg out there to create a barrier to play. He was attempting to get kicked and did.

Odoi gave the official no choice on the second yellow. He went in out of control with his legs flailing. There was only one way that was going to end.

[bahay18]

i think the ref made an error booking Chester so early on . From that point it was going to be very difficult to finish with 11v11 . I guess he hoped that would calm a few things down but instead it just made everyone demand a yellow for every foul . Odoi ultimately paid the price for that . As for Fredericks , eye was on the ball on the whole time but it was reckless trying to climb over him . Probably frustration of Grealish throwing himself to the ground the whole time got the better of him . He probably got lucky but as Slav said it made up for the woeful decisions we had against Reading last year .

[PokerMatt]

i think the ref made an error booking Chester so early on . From that point it was going to be very difficult to finish with 11v11 . I guess he hoped that would calm a few things down but instead it just made everyone demand a yellow for every foul . Odoi ultimately paid the price for that . As for Fredericks , eye was on the ball on the whole time but it was reckless trying to climb over him . Probably frustration of Grealish throwing himself to the ground the whole time got the better of him . He probably got lucky but as Slav said it made up for the woeful decisions we had against Reading last year .

Agree with the early yellow thing. He set himself a precedent and he had to carry on waving the yellow card on what was always going to be a tetchy game.

Odoi's first was very harsh to be booked, he missed Fred's stamp, Grealish's was absolutely a stonewall red card - a real filthy potential leg-breaker. I haven't seen a replay, but I'm sure McDonald was fouled from a corner - AK's looked to me like it should have been given. The Villas players were in his ear from minute 1 from Terry's lead and he didn't do anything about that.

All in all I think he had an absolute stinker. But seems I'm one of few.

Not that any of it matters now, of course.