Sunday 21 August 2016 18:44, UK
Was Mike Dean correct to award two penalties in Man City's win at Stoke?
That's been a topic of debate this weekend after the referee penalised Ryan Shawcross' grab on Nicolas Otamendi from a corner before giving Stoke a spot kick when Raheem Sterling failed to play the ball when marking Shawcross in the second half.
Referees have been told to clamp down on players pulling shirts inside the box this season, but Dean's decisions have prompted plenty of comment from managers and pundits.
Watch the incidents for yourself above and read what others have said...
Mark Hughes - Stoke manager
"As usual at this time of the year there is a directive out there and certain teams maybe get penalised for that. That's fine as long as it is consistent until the end of the season. Usually it isn't, so we will have to wait and see. All I'm saying is it needs to be invoked in this game and in every other game. I have found in my experience these new directives are jumped on in the opening weeks of the season and then everyone forgets them. Unfortunately we've had a penalty go against us in a key period of the game."
Pep Guardiola - Man City manager
"We have to be careful. I don't know what will happen in six months' time with this rule so that's why I like to defend with zonal marking because it is not man to man. You just attack the ball, maybe block sometimes if the people come and then attack the ball. It was a little bit strange and I am sure Mark Hughes can say the same. All the teams have to be careful with these kind of actions."
Ryan Shawcross - Stoke defender
"I've let the team down with a silly mistake having known what's been said in the summer after meeting the refs. It's a stupid mistake on my part and hopefully I can rectify that in the future and not get done again."
Chris Kamara - Sky Sports expert
"In the next few weeks this will be clamped down on. Burnley were unlucky not to get a penalty last week and I couldn't have imagined that seven days later the penalties that would be given would all be for pulling in the box. Maybe the referees had a little reminder in the week to do it."
Dean Saunders - Goals on Sunday guest
"I don't know what they are going to do with this. You could have every single corner in every single game being a foul and you'd have to give a penalty. I don't know what they are going to do. How do you teach young players to defend corners now? Alan Shearer, for example, would grab hold of your shirt in the box and hold you down as a striker. It's just so difficult. There will be a penalty for every corner that's given."
Kit Symons - Goals on Sunday guest
"It's tough. Seeing Ryan Shawcross afterwards, he said he'd have to change his technique for marking from corners. There's this new directive and Mark Hughes afterwards was clearly not happy about it. If it's going to be consistent throughout the season and everyone knows where they are with it then fair enough. The second one wouldn't have been given as a penalty last season, no chance. It's just that consistency. If this is a new directive and they are going to be followed for the course of the entire season then great. It will lead to more goals, which everyone wants. That's fine. Defenders know where they stand and what they can and can't get away with. You want it to be consistent from referees game to game."
Niall Quinn - Sky Sports expert
"Nobody expected him to give the first penalty, even thought the players and clubs were told this could happen. He was right to give it because a directive has gone round to all the clubs. They will be looking out for this. I think it's really good that he's doing this. Sterling has no interest in the ball and a clear part of the directive is that they will particularly be looking out for players trying to impede the attacker by not looking at the ball. He has applied it to the letter."
Graeme Souness - Sky Sports expert
"Referees know who pull shirts. Shawcross has got history of pulling shirts and holding on to people. He's got to be very careful, as do others in the Premier League. The referees know who the culprits are. I just hope they are consistent now. That makes for a better game and goals. I hope every other referee sees that and they all go down that road."
