Martin Atkinson - Incompetent refereeing

Gutted at the Lane

This was the most disappointed I was after a match under our current managers reign. I thought this was our best performance by a country mile and had we had taken our chances, and the referee not been Martin Atkinson, we would have at least got a share of the spoils, if not all 3 points.
 
I thought we out played and out passed Spurs through out the contest even in the 2nd half. They were constantly hitting the ball long for Crouch, which worked, perfectly for the winning goal but surprising it was Liverpool who played the best football. I thought our center backs were excellent and was the center midfield pairing. The ref showed his true colors early, regular readers of my column have known that I dislike Atkins ever since he was in charge of a Reading v Liverpool game a few years back, when he put Mierceles in the book for a legal tackle on Bale, it wasn't even a foul. He continued to show our players cards at their first tackle (mierceles, Lucas and Carragher) and let their players get away with everything.

Liverpool should have taken all the points just before half time in a frantic end to the half. Torres played a brilliant pass to Maxi who should have scored but didn't ever shoot, he just was in two minds. Maxi could have had a hatrick by halftime, that was how good we were playing. Torres also missed a glorious chance just before the break. Spurs did look dangerous when Carragher had to make a great block after Lennon got the better of current managers left back. Reina spilled the cross and Carragher was on hand to block Defoe's effort.

The second half started just like the first with Torres wasting a great chance, this time on his right foot after being sent away. I was very surprised he didn't even have a shot. Spurs won another free kick and Ngog, for some reason, jumped with his hands in the air. How the ref could have possibly given a pk for that I'm not sure. Go look a the replay again, he had to guess as he was not in any position to see it. Defoe missed it but the ref still had a hand to play by turning down not one but two very strong penalty appeals for tackles on Kuyt. I thought the first one might have been fair but the second one was a stonewall spot kick and yellow card. Nothing given.

At 1-1 we were still throwing punches against the 12 men of Spurs and our Portuguese play maker hit a fierce left footed drive. Spurs won it at the death when Crouch knocked on a header, one of the only things he did all day, into the path of Lennon who scored a fine goal. A very undeserved three points and I was gutted

http://blogs.soccernet.com/liverpool/archives/2010/12/gutted_at_the_lane.php?

Since Managers have been warned to never talk bad about referees, are fans ever gonna take the initiative and protest against referees that run amok and ruin games?

No matter how fans try to heap the blame on Managers for poor result, the poor refereeing pay a major role too. Yet it seem as if nothing can be done about it. Looks more like animals like Martin Atkinson get away with murder every time.

For the loss to Tottenham, Martin Atkinson deserves a huge portion of that blame.

Good post Solodee Atkinson's performance was a disgrace on Sunday, and the travesty is that nothing can be done about it, no one can over-rule any of the decisions made, and it is pointless for a manager to criticise because they either get a fine a touchline ban or both. I can to a point live with bad decisions made through human error, but every 50-50 decision went in favour of spurs, which clearly illustrates thet he was biased in their favour, i don't know how the challenge on Kuyt wasn't a penalty and this decision had a massive impact on the result. The next time he is in charge of one of our games, the FA should be emailed by fans voicing their concerns

Who is Atkins? Or Meirceles? And which journo writes short hand in a column?

I agree though. He was sh*te. Meireles was given a yellow for sliding through a player but Assou-Ekotto did it in the box and not even a penalty. Poor form.

Wouldn't call a blog "journalism" per se. Anyone can have a blog. That being said, the writer did make a couple good points, and I thought the officiating was atrocious. I was furious at the "Meirceles" yellow, and I used to have a lot of respect for Bale until he dove more than Greg Louganis.

He's had it in for us since we used him as target practice after he called off that cup tie against Arsenal when Rafa and Wenger both decided the game was fine to be played.  Bellend he is.

edit: here it is

Liverpool Lads Target Practice

Hah that is quality vitez!

Hahaha. That is top!

Got to disagree.  Football fans always stick it to the ref - if Maxi & Torres had done their jobs, this probably wouldn't be discussed.

All 4 of our back line got booked deservedly, whilst  Miereles was hard done by, from the refs position it looked like a tackle from behind. 

He called the Hutton penalty call correctly as well, though I don't feel it was a dive, just a case of his own momentum taking him down. 

Yes the ref was a bit of a homer, we've had a few of those at Anfield, but in general, Martin Atkinson made less mistakes during that game than, Torres, Konchesky or Johnson for example. 

I've never worked out what fans want from refs, fair play & common sense or play to the rules, because whatever they pick it's wrong. To be honest, I've always thought fans who blame refs are copping out on the real issue, the teams & managers failure.

He called the Hutton penalty call correctly as well, though I don't feel it was a dive, just a case of his own momentum taking him down. 

I've never worked out what fans want from refs, fair play & common sense or play to the rules, because whatever they pick it's wrong. To be honest, I've always thought fans who blame refs are copping out on the real issue, the teams & managers failure.

Disagree about Hutton, blantant dive and should of been given a yellow.

The refs don't help themselves though, especially the Premier league ref, some of them are like strutting peacocks who want to be part of the action, some of the best refs are those that can almost make themselves invisble.

It's an age old tradition to slag the refs, he's the authoritive figure don't forget and who can forget age old classics such as :

"Who's the b***ard in the black"
"The referee's a w**ker"

It used to be worth sitting in the Kemlyn in the early to mid 90's listening to some of the arl-arses ripping the piss out of the linesmen and refs.

I've never worked out what fans want from refs, fair play & common sense or play to the rules, because whatever they pick it's wrong. To be honest, I've always thought fans who blame refs are copping out on the real issue, the teams & managers failure.

v Chelsea, first game that Torres scored at Anfield.

Or, for me as an Aussie - Australia v Croatia in '06 World Cup.

Just those two games alone show why refs get so much stick. The fact is, all we want is consistency. Rarely is it ever given, and thus why they get stick. It shouldn't be that hard to give a good, consistent performance.

v Chelsea, first game that Torres scored at Anfield.

Or, for me as an Aussie - Australia v Croatia in '06 World Cup.

Just those two games alone show why refs get so much stick. The fact is, all we want is consistency. Rarely is it ever given, and thus why they get stick. It shouldn't be that hard to give a good, consistent performance.

Why should refs expected to be consistent, when players rarely are. Quite often it comes across as thumbing your nose at authority, just because you can.  When players start playing every game without making a mistake, I may expect refs to start doing the same.

Why should refs expected to be consistent, when players rarely are. Quite often it comes across as thumbing your nose at authority, just because you can.  When players start playing every game without making a mistake, I may expect refs to start doing the same.

Little bit of an unfair comparison, i think. Players are doing a hell of a lot more out there than refs are, players have a lot more pressure on them etc etc. Yes refs have pressure, but all the same they basically know they are disliked so it should be status quo every week, there should be no lulls in performance because all they are doing is watching.

There is no excuse for some of the blatant inconsistencies you see week-in, week-out, with tackles called for one team, and then let go for the other. It happens too often.

I aint no 'thumb my nose' at authority guy. I just expect a lot more than what referees are doing at the moment.

I'm sorry, they've got every fan on their back, quite often before a ball is kicked, players blatantly lying & cheating for the full 90 minutes, insubordination & bullying tactics from players & management.

I gave up reffing, at a very low level, because even then you had idiots on your back, expecting you to get every decision right.  Just wasn't worth the hassle.  It's a forgone conclusion that refs make mistakes - just ask any copper how reliable eyewitnesses are.

I'm sorry, they've got every fan on their back, quite often before a ball is kicked, players blatantly lying & cheating for the full 90 minutes, insubordination & bullying tactics from players & management.

I gave up reffing, at a very low level, because even then you had idiots on your back, expecting you to get every decision right.  Just wasn't worth the hassle.  It's a forgone conclusion that refs make mistakes - just ask any copper how reliable eyewitnesses are.

Aye, ive done a little bit myself (Aussie Rules footy, but same thing as far as abuse goes) its part and parcel. But i still standby the fact that there are a lot of easy decisions they F**k up. The standard of the competition dictates that it has got to be a lot better than what it is.

Refs will always make mistakes. However, the stupid ones are what needs to stop.

And that's where my defence of Atkinson comes into play, he didn't make any stupid mistakes, made a few calls in which the linesman should have been helping him out with, because his view was impaired.

But mistakes, including stupid ones, will always happen.  A refs job is to minimize them and as long as I think he's made less mistakes than most the players on show, he's usually done a good job.

It's a forgone conclusion that refs make mistakes - just ask any copper how reliable eyewitnesses are.

You'd have to find a reliable copper first!!

You'd have to find a reliable copper first!!

You have to find a copper first

Joke all that can be said about atkintson was at the match on sunday and the ref was not consitent with cards and was just a utter joke football is going soft its a contact sport

You'd have to find a reliable copper first!!

I know a fair few, mind you like ALL walks of life, I know a few I wouldn't trust whatsoever. 

I normally don't like referees being blamed for a team not winning because I believe the players on the field, ours, should make things happen. Instead of hoping for the referee to give us a spot kick or a free kick for us to get back into the game, the players should instead show some passion and desire to make things happen and win the game. Good teams don't rely on the men in black to win games.

However, at times, the refereeing in matches can be really sh*t.

It's impossible to be spot on 100% every game because human errors are inevitable but all I'm asking is that a referee becomes consistent with his decision such as soft tackle by one team gets a caution, so does the other. It's okay if it's let off once or twice but sometimes it just gets too bovious that one team is favoured and this can really affect the outcome of the game and subsequently the league standings.

What summs the sh*t up is 5 Liverpool players booked in a entertaining game with very little phyisical presence. Oh and how many Spurs players were booked ?.

What summs the sh*t up is 5 Liverpool players booked in a entertaining game with very little phyisical presence. Oh and how many Spurs players were booked ?.

4 of our bookings were deserved, Carragher & Skrtel  were lucky not to get sent off, twice Carragher cynically took Crouch out at corners, in no way was he going for the ball & Skrtel was up to his usual tricks, tugging shirts all the way through.  If he sent off either, we could have had no complaints.  As I've already said, a bit of a homer, but been far worse refereeing displays that have gotten less sh*t - and if Maxi & Torres had 'not made mistakes' in front of goal, I doubt this would be a debate.

Roy's inspiring half-time team talk, poor finishing & a lack of concentration cost us the game, not the ref.