Monday 25 April 2016 18:32, UK
Ref Watch is back to debate another selection of controversial decisions from some of the weekend's football matches in England and Spain.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher joined host Rob Wotton in the Sky Sports News HQ studio to analyse a number of contentious calls.
From vital goals to offside goals, yellow cards not given to questionable penalty decisions, and even a red card for a manager through no fault of his own, we have it all covered in this week's edition.
MATCH: Liverpool v Newcastle United, Premier League, Saturday
INCIDENT: Daniel Sturridge's second-minute goal is allowed to stand despite the player looking offside.
SCENARIO: A long ball is played upfield to Sturridge, who is positioned between two defenders. When he comes into shot on television pictures, the striker appears to be in an offside position - although replays show him to have come from an onside position when the ball was played. Sturridge chests the ball down, takes a touch then turns and shoots low into the bottom corner to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead, with referee Andre Marriner and his assistant Stephen Child allowing the goal to stand.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "It's a top-drawer decision and you can see why these guys are in the Premier League. It's a close call and it's their first decision of the game as well. Child has hit the ground running and it's a class, class decision."
MATCH: Liverpool v Newcastle United, Premier League, Saturday
INCIDENT: Roberto Firmino scores but has his goal disallowed for offside.
SCENARIO: James Milner collects the ball on the right wing, cuts inside and crosses to Joe Allen, whose header is palmed away by Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow. Firmino is waiting at the back post and after the rebound falls to him, he takes a touch with his thigh before tapping in on the line. The goal is not allowed to stand, with assistant referee Harry Lennard flagging it off.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "I think the interesting thing here is if it goes in during the first phase of play, Harry doesn't flag. What happens though is the 'keeper saves it and by then Firmino is in an offside position as he follows it up. It would have been a goal initially had Allen's header gone in but once it was saved, Firmino was offside. Harry has kept his focus on the player who has gone forward and disallowed it correctly."
MATCH: Liverpool v Newcastle United, Premier League, Saturday
INCIDENT: Papiss Cisse escapes a yellow card after colliding with Dejan Lovren and conceding a free kick.
SCENARIO: A high ball drops with Cisse and Lovren jostling to win possession. The players come together with Cisse's right arm outstretched. Lovren falls to the ground and lands on his knees with his face down and coughing, whereas Cisse goes on to contest the loose ball before play is stopped and Marriner gives a foul against him for his challenge on Lovren. No caution is issued.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Wrong decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "I didn't think it was an elbow. It wasn't very nice because if you see it, Cisse has looked for it and has caught him with his forearm across the throat. It's reckless and I think he should have got a yellow card. The good thing about it is the lad looked very bad at the time and was a lot better afterwards. It didn't cause the damage it could have done."
MATCH: Liverpool v Newcastle United, Premier League, Saturday
INCIDENT: Cheick Tiote trips Sturridge in the area but no penalty is given.
SCENARIO: Sturridge cuts into the penalty area from the right and after a stepover, turns to his right away from Tiote and then right again before being brought down. Tiote's right knee appears to catch the England striker's right knee but referee Marriner waves play on and does not give the penalty. He also decides not to caution Sturridge for simulation.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Wrong decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "I don't know why it wasn't given because I thought it was a penalty. Sometimes you can't win the ball and this is a classic example of that. Sturridge has hidden the ball from Tiote and he's got to go through him to get it but Sturridge moved the ball away and had his legs taken from him. It's just an incident the referee didn't see as I see it - but he doesn't have the luxury of being able to see replays from different angles. It should have been a penalty."
MATCH: Liverpool v Newcastle United, Premier League, Saturday
INCIDENT: A fan watching the match blows a whistle during play.
SCENARIO: With the half-time interval imminent, someone in the crowd blows a whistle in an attempt to make people believe it is signalling the end of the first half. Although the players on the pitch don't react and referee Marriner waves play on, many onlookers believe the whistle to have marked the end of play and begin applauding. After a couple of seconds, Marriner feels he has no choice but to stop play to end the confusion and restarts play with a drop ball to Newcastle, who play it back to Liverpool given they had been in possession at the time.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "It has put the referee in an impossible position and he is forced to stop the game. The players are really good here - they accepted he had to stop the game and they let him drop the ball, which he had to, and they restarted as normal. It's a strange, strange incident and I don't know why people do it. It's not good. Maybe the guy wanted a half-time cup of tea a bit early but we don't want to see that."
MATCH: Sunderland v Arsenal, Premier League, Sunday
INCIDENT: The ball strikes Per Mertesacker in the Arsenal penalty area but no penalty is given.
SCENARIO: Sunderland are attacking when Jermain Defoe shoots only to have his attempt blocked by Mertesacker. The German defender turns his back on the attempt from close range and the ball hits his left arm, with Sunderland's players appealing for a foul. Referee Mike Dean dismisses their claims and no penalty is awarded.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "Mertesacker starts with his hands behind his back which is interesting. What you would say is Defoe has lashed his shot so hard and from so close by that Mertesacker has not got any chance of getting out of the way. Anybody who thought that was deliberate is very much mistaken. Why Mertesacker turns his back I don't know but the ball strikes him rather than him striking the ball."
MATCH: Sunderland v Arsenal, Premier League, Sunday
INCIDENT: DeAndre Yedlin blocks Alex Iwobi's shot in the penalty area with his arm but no foul is given.
SCENARIO: Arsenal are attacking and Iwobi shoots from around 12 yards and although his attempt clears the first defender who is attempting to block it, Yedlin gets in the way and appears to make contact with the ball with his right hand before Sunderland clear. Arsenal's players appeal for a penalty but again Dean chooses not to award one.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "This is even more interesting because it can't be handball because when you look at the incident again, it actually strikes his leg first and then flies up to hit him on the arm. He has no chance of getting out of the way so again it's a case of ball to hand rather than hand to ball."
MATCH: Leicester City v Swansea City, Premier League, Sunday
INCIDENT: Riyad Mahrez scores the opening goal after an apparent handball in the build-up.
SCENARIO: Swansea captain Ashley Williams' attempted pass is intercepted by Mahrez, with the ball seeming to strike him on the arm. Mahrez gathers the ball and advances into the penalty area and shoots low past Lukasz Fabianski to put Leicester 1-0 ahead.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "Initially I thought this was handball because the ball has struck Mahrez from a reasonable distance but the thing that's convinced me it hasn't hit him on the arm but on the side instead is the fact Williams - the closest player to him who played the ball - reacts first by chasing the ball. That's really the giveaway. It must have hit him on the side under the arm because Williams would have been the first one to stop but his movement after the ball is played and the fact it goes in the net with him just carrying on tells me I was initially wrong."
MATCH: Manchester City v Stoke City, Premier League, Saturday
INCIDENT: Ryan Shawcross concedes a penalty against Manchester City but is not booked.
SCENARIO: Kelechi Iheanacho attempts to play a one-two with Yaya Toure as Manchester City attack and play their way into Stoke's penalty area but as Iheanacho attempts to receive the return ball, Shawcross intentionally body-checks the Nigerian and referee Bobby Madley awards a penalty kick but elects not to caution Shawcross.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Wrong decision not to book Shawcross.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "The referee didn't see it the way we have. It's definitely a penalty and there's no question about that but it could easily have been a yellow card for reckless play and pulling him back, as we've seen many, many times. Whether the referee thinks he's just pulled him back but has been going after the ball, I don't know. If Shawcross had got a yellow card, he couldn't have complained."
MATCH: Atletico Madrid v Malaga, La Liga, Saturday
INCIDENT: A ball is thrown on to the pitch during play from the Atletico Madrid bench.
SCENARIO: Malaga win a throw inside their own half and take it quickly to start a fast counter attack but as midfielder Ricardo Horta runs down the left wing with lots of space to exploit, a ball is thrown onto the pitch from Atletico's dug-out. Manager Diego Simeone is standing on the touchline shouting instructions as the second ball enters the field, but as the most senior ranking official in his side's technical area, the referee sends him to the stand for the rest of the match.
GALLAGHER'S VERDICT: Correct decision.
GALLAGHER SAYS: "The law is quite clear. It's a case of whether what happens affects play and the referee, quite rightly, highlights that if he pulled that up, Malaga would be penalised as they are attacking. As it didn't interfere with a Malaga player, he quite rightly allowed play to continue until the move broke down before going back to deal with the issue. The interesting thing afterwards is the referee doesn't know who threw it on and the rule in Spain is if he goes to the bench to remove somebody and he doesn't know who, it has to be the most senior person there. In this case that was Simeone so he is now staring down the barrel of a three-match ban for something that he didn't do. If that ball had actually struck the match ball, it would have interfered with play completely and the Malaga attack would have broken down, with the referee forced to stop it. What was really good was the referee was aware it hadn't affected the Malaga player and he allowed him to continue until the move ended."
