Wednesday 5 April 2017 16:04, UK
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher returns for a look at the midweek Premier League action, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic's offside goal.
There may have only been four top-flight games so far this week, but there were plenty of talking points for Gallagher to get to grips with on Premier League Daily.
Drop balls, sending offs and a hilarious corner attempt also feature in the latest Ref Watch...
INCIDENT: With Everton 1-0 ahead, Man Utd striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic heads home in the 71st minute from an Ander Herrera cross, but it is ruled out for offside.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct.
DERMOT SAYS: I think it is a really tough call because you look at it and where the line is, it goes through his head effectively, which is what he scored with. You look at one angle and it is 100 per cent right, an excellent decision but at another angle, it looks slightly different and I think that's the trouble.
Unless you have a line straight down the middle of the park, you are just going to have to trust the linesman's judgement.
'Give the advantage to the attacking player' is a great phrase, and then you draw the line across the pitch and the player is offside. Nobody is interested then because they say 'well he's offside'. To me, he is either offside or onside and what the view showed is that the line goes through his head so he is offside.
INCIDENT: After Ibrahimovic scored the late equalising penalty, Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles kicked the ball away, which would usually be a yellow card offence. He escaped a booking and had already earned a yellow card earlier in the game.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct.
DERMOT SAYS: I think what the referee has done here is decided that it wasn't dissent, but it was frustration. He's let a goal in during the last minute, they are hanging on at the end and it's the 93rd minute. I think the referee has told him to calm down and he only has a few seconds left so he should take it easy.
I think if you can diffuse things without using yellow or red cards, it has to be a good thing. The cards have to have significance and mean something.
INCIDENT: Referee Neil Swarbrick decides on a drop ball for both sides, but Kevin Mirallas is the only player to take it up before Ashley Young fouls him. The two teams square up to each other, before Young is booked for his tackle on Mirallas.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct for the booking but poor overall from the referee.
DERMOT SAYS: The tackle isn't good, but I have to say I am stunned at the way the referee restarted the game. On Sunday, we saw an incident with Swansea v Middlesbrough and for me, if I was watching the match, I would've been alerted to that.
I just think the referee has not taken control of the situation from the outset. To drop the ball as he did, with no United player there, why did he not have one there or why did he not make sure he was in control of the situation?
I'm saying that the referee needs to protect himself. On Sunday, we saw a referee have an unfortunate incident because he dropped the ball and allowed a player to come from behind to take it. If you look at Mirallas here, he just allows him to take it in the middle of the park and that's why Young has reacted like he did. I'm not saying he's right, but I think that could be avoided.
I think referees will see both incidents on Sunday and Tuesday and go into their games thinking 'I'm not going to take that chance. I'm going to drop the ball like so and be in control of the situation'.
INCIDENT: Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam goes to take a corner, but slips on the surface and kicks the ball with his foot before rolling it back into place. He is then penalised for a handball and Burnley are awarded the free kick.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Correct.
DERMOT SAYS: It was so funny, even Mark Hughes found it funny on the bench. The linesman couldn't have let him get away with it because if he had taken it again and scored, everyone would have said 'well he's played the ball twice', so he's got to but it was funny.
INCIDENT: Miguel Britos is sent off for two yellow cards. The first for a foul of Hal Robson-Kanu before another on Salomon Rondon in the second half. The bookings and eventual sending off promoted an angry response from Watford manager Walter Mazzarri, who argued with the officials and his own staff before kicking the dugout.
DERMOT'S VERDICT: Britos should not have been sent off but Mazzarri should have been.
DERMOT SAYS: I feel sorry for Britos with the first booking, I think it is a borderline yellow. The referee will say he is stopping the premise of the attack maybe, but for me it could go either way. It's the referee's choice.
I defend referees when it comes to players pulling each other down, but the assistant is closest and he has the best view but he doesn't flag. I think both players are clashing but for me, I felt really sorry for him again. He has a little shirt grab but it is not enough to bring him down. I didn't think it was good enough to send him off.
When you see Mazzarri's reaction, I was astonished he was still on the bench because it just goes on. He will argue that it is at his own coaches but it's just such a bad display... There are protocols there.
INCIDENT: After Laurent Koscielny was substituted at half-time for Arsenal during Sunday's match against Manchester City, it appears that Arsene Wenger did not appoint another player to be the captain for the second half, going against Premier League rules.
DERMOT SAYS: The rule in this is that someone has to wear the captain's armband. I think where it has got lost is because of the tragedy a few weeks ago and the wearing of the black armbands, nobody has checked to see if it is a captain's armband or not. It has not got picked up until later.
You need a captain so the referee has someone to go to if a player is acting up, they can go to them and say 'I don't want to resort to yellow or red cards, can you have a word with him and calm him down'. They're also there to communicate with the team in general.
