Matt Maher: It’s never been tougher to referee in the Premier League
So long as football is played, there will be complaints about referees and refereeing decisions.
That is the first thing which must be kept in mind when approaching the current debate about the standard of officiating in the Premier League.
Another is this: Not since a ball was first kicked in anger has it ever been tougher to referee a professional match.
It is not merely that the game is quicker than ever before, or that deceiving the officials has somehow become a skill for which players are too rarely criticised and sometimes even praised.
No, most significant is the presence of dozens of TV cameras allowing millions sat at home the luxury of viewing contentious incidents several times in slow-motion, before sitting back and happily declaring the person who gets one look and a split-second to make up their mind a fool.
Viewed from that perspective, it is easy to see why the sport sought to utilise technology to assist referees.
Yet, as we are discovering, even that has problems. Sure, VAR’s implementation could probably have been handled better but no matter which way you work it, video replay will never be the silver bullet to eradicating all errors some believe it can be. Such perfection is a mere pipe dream.
None of which means managers shouldn’t demand better when certain standards aren’t met.
By and large, you would say Gary O’Neil has remained on the right side of respectful despite having more reason than any other Premier League boss to complain.
