Referees influence games more than the players and managers

I am not just saying this as a spur of the moment thing but I do honestly believe there is an agenda and whether the FA are involved I don't know. I do believe though that certain referees have it in for Liverpool FC.

Some of the decisions, not only today, but in massive fixtures over recent seasons have been atrocious, almost criminal. The referee has had a terrible game today and its a shame that they influence the game so much these days.

This is not a conspiracy theory, this is just an opinion based on what we as fans have been presented with over recent years. That was never a penalty and Valencia was falling over before the lunge even went in. The red card, well I do think that he deserved a red but so did Evans. There have been numerous fouls elsewhere that the referee has done nothing about and the Van Persie tackle should have been a straight red. That could have left Suso in hospital all season.

All in all, a good performance and the players can feel hard done by. The referee totally ruined the game today. What a shame and blemish on the sport. Suso, Allen and Sterling have looked good. Agger has looked nervous but maybe he was carrying a knock. I really think the youngsters are the future and the older players should be sold and replaced with cheaper and younger quality because they seem like the ones who are taking to the new approach more.

We would have would the league in 2009 but for the disgraceful refereeing at Old Trafford. Rafa would have still been here (perhaps?); I'm really bitter about the whole thing. Today is just another refereeing performance in a long line of such performances. Referees want the big games, which is fair enough, but they know they cannot afford to upset Ferguson if they want to get the big games. There doesn't have to be any secret envelopes; they all know what they have to do.

Just the standard of referees is sh*t, nothing more, they give calls to the team moaning at them the most, we should try it more. All the dodgy decisions today regarding us getting the ball from them were given 2-5 seconds later after the ref noticed players winging at him.

Just the standard of referees is sh*t, nothing more, they give calls to the team moaning at them the most, we should try it more. All the dodgy decisions today regarding us getting the ball from them were given 2-5 seconds later after the ref noticed players winging at him.

I don't know, Suarez does enough moaning for our whole XI, but rarely gets F**k all.  I think the club does need to have a sit down with the Referee's Association though.

 Mark Halsey is a good man and a decent ref but he simply had an awful game today. I think the occasion got to him, and so determined was he to not be seen to be "evening it up" for his poor decision to send off Shelvey, that he ended up compounding it by making nemerous further mistakes. The decision not to award a free kick for the foul on Suarez at the end was another poor one and by then he was a sad sight, cutting a lonely figure as he drowned in his obvious incompetence, his confidence shot to pieces.

 He looked flustered and rattled and was afraid to give us a decision with us in such a threatening situation, what with him having added so much time on. Quite how he got himself into such a hole as the game developed will no doubt cause him much soul searching over the next few days. He (probably wrongly) decided against giving yellow cards early, refusing one for Shelvey and for Evra when they were both blatent cases. Then, he allowed himself to be influenced by the earpiece over the Shelvey sending off. Curiously, the advice came in BEFORE the slow motion replays had been aired. Had he had the benefit off seeing them himself (which no doubt he has by now) he'll obviously realise that it was "both or neither" situation with the sending off, with the sensible lean being towards the latter.

 He missed the Suarez penalty because our mans "reputation preceeds him", although whther that's the reputation of being a diver or one of someone who is often fouled in the penalty area but never gets a penalty I aren't 100% sure. Then he gave theirs, which I felt was a 30% chance at best, and you'd have about as much chance of getting that awarded to you away at Old Trafford as you would of finding Jaap Stam lining up against you in defence.

 All in all it was very poor. Halsey may well consider his refereeing career after this game, if he doesn't then someone perhaps needs to have a word with him. Perhaps we should have a word with the powers that be as well. Speaking personally I'm tired of being "unlucky" with referees. We didn't get a clear penalty last week which would have won us the game, and we didn't get one this week either. Perhaps they'd be so kind as to tell us exactly what IS a foul in the box, because it's approaching the stage where I'm not sure any more.   

The ability to challenge a ruling would be perfect. But that would cause too much of a distraction and delay?

Like the incidents aren't packed enough with them already. This is top quality football, millions at stake, yet outcomes are based upon a few sets of eyes that get only a glimpse at what happened.

Said it after our first league game and will say it again- it's a shame such a strong competition like EPL having such awful referees.

There is.Its went on too long.I dont like saying this but unless we get fair play we should seriously consider boycotting away matches.It would really hurt the Premier League.We have no frends.Listen to the watered down version on MOTD 2.

Look at Rangers in SPL.Hurt these cu*ts while we're still in a position of power.Hit them where it f***in hurts.Do you ever see a full crowd at a lot of grounds unless we're playin.f***in boycott & we might be treated fairly.

It's true but you're not allowed to say it without the whole "always the victims, it's never your fault" coming up.

After games like today, I wonder why I not only watch every Liverpool game, but why I look forward to every game so much.

Said it after our first league game and will say it again- it's a shame such a strong competition like EPL having such awful referees.

Totally. You look at referees in Spain, Germany, France etc. They all are very lean and very fit. They are very rarely the topic of conversation in European games. In fact in all the games we've played in Europe I can't really think of a name that comes to mind that made us angry in the way Halsey did today. But as I said fitness seems an issue here. There are too many referees in England who clearly have too much of a belly on them so not only are you taking into account their decision making but also their fitness (Phil Dowd for instance was allowed to re take his fitness test at the end of last season after failing it). For a league that is so fast paced, to have referees like that is an embarrassment.

After games like today, I wonder why I not only watch every Liverpool game, but why I look forward to every game so much.

I agree mate, I love football and my passion for Liverpool is unrelenting. But at the end of the match today I couldn't help but feel cheated, and felt a almost hatred for the game we love so much. Life can't always be fair, but for us, it seems never to be fair.

Especially true today against the mancs

I agree mate, I love football and my passion for Liverpool is unrelenting. But at the end of the match today I couldn't help but feel cheated, and felt a almost hatred for the game we love so much. Life can't always be fair, but for us, it seems never to be fair.

Exactly. In anything else, I'd be that pissed off that I'd have walked away years ago, but because it's football, I can't.

I think about football every minute of my life and always have, so it shows how bad things must be for me to be considering just forgetting about it.

I think the thing that will always keep me going is the thought that they've won if we just lie down and accept it's out of our hands.

If I did my job to the same standards as Halsey did last night, I'd be out on the streets with a "WILL WORK FOR FOOD" sign.  "Utterly incompetent" is merely scratching the surface.

Still F***ing gutted (shades of pissed off too).

Call me desperate but I cant help notice.

United have won  the majority of their titles during the PL era. We won our last one a season before it was introduced. 

Rafa Benitez: "You cannot have an impartial Football Association when members of that board are also executives at Manchester United."

If I did my job to the same standards as Halsey did last night, I'd be out on the streets with a "WILL WORK FOR FOOD" sign.  "Utterly incompetent" is merely scratching the surface.

Still f**king gutted (shades of pissed off too).

After that performance if Halsey went out on the streets looking for food he would starve,deservedly so.

Wasn't able to watch the game today, but to see some of the replays I'm appalled at the lack of consistency in the officiating. If you are going to call things harsh, call them equally harsh, or don't call them at all.

I seriously think that the managers should have the opportunity to challenge a referee's call with the aid of replay. Give them two challenges per game to use as they see fit. Maybe only allow challenges on plays that involve scoring or bookings.

The NFL has a similar system, coaches can challenge two plays per game. Ironically they aren't allowed to challenge fouls, only actual decisions during the play of the game. But it still helps to set right some of the inevitable wrongs.

Funny to see this thread

Only said to a few people both clubs giving it all the handshakes, utd giving us flowers, balloons being let off blah blah then the ref goes and be's a pr*ck

It has  to be the PL refs that are at fault , i watched the manure Galatasaray game and the ref gave very little to the mancs, you could see that in no way was he influenced by them. And so it should be,

If I did my job to the same standards as Halsey did last night, I'd be out on the streets with a "WILL WORK FOR FOOD" sign.  "Utterly incompetent" is merely scratching the surface.

Still F***ing gutted (shades of pissed off too).

It is squarely in the hands of the FA, they are the only body that can affect the situation of grossly incompetent officialdom, lead by example is not appropriate in this case. 

It has  to be the PL refs that are at fault , i watched the manure Galatasaray game and the ref gave very little to the mancs, you could see that in no way was he influenced by them. And so it should be,

Exactly mate and that is the reason the mancs get F***ing hammered in European games, apart from them being sh*te the ref is not in their pocket.