It's not been a good campaign for PGMOL's PR department, with top-flight officials making a string of high-profile errors
"Wtf." That was Erling Haaland's take on referee Simon Hooper's failure to play advantage after he'd threaded Jack Grealish through deep into second-half stoppage against Tottenham on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.
Initially, it looked like Hooper had waved the play on after Emerson Royal clattered into Haaland just inside the City half. However, just as Grealish was scampering through on goal, the official blew up, sparking explosive – and meme-spawning – reactions from the City players.
Haaland's X post, which voiced bewilderment at the decision, has been liked almost 500,000 times at the time of writing. The reception of the Norwegian's outrage is indicative of the feeling around Premier League refereeing currently.
X (@ErlingHaaland)
This season, officials have been subject to a previously unheard of level of criticism, with beleaguered PGMOL chief Howard Webb being forced into numerous apologies. The implementation of VAR remains the hot-button issue, particularly among match-going fans, but as the Haaland example proved, the technology is not the only problem currently facing the current refereeing cohort.
GOAL has ranked the most controversial decisions from the 2023-24 season so far…
Getty Images1October 28, 2023: Wolves 2-2 Newcastle
Newcastle were fortunate to come away from Molineux with a point back in October. Right on the stroke of half-time, Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot after Hwang Hee-chan seemingly kicked through Callum Wilson in the Wolves box.
Like every penalty decision, it was reviewed by VAR, and the replays appeared to show that there had in fact been minimal contact. Despite this, Taylor was not sent to screen and Wilson converted from 12 yards. Wolves would eventually grab an equaliser, but they went away feeling they deserved more.
"It was a scandalous decision," manager Gary O’Neil said after the game. "It was a terrible on-field decision, and terrible that VAR didn’t intervene, so I thought they got it badly wrong."
AdvertisementGetty Images2September 2, 2023: Man City 5-1 Fulham
It would be easy to dismiss this incident as irrelevant. Even if the goal had been chalked off, Fulham still wouldn't have been particularly likely to get anything from a trip to the Etihad. However, that doesn't make it any less of an injustice.
With the scores level at 1-1, Nathan Ake's tame header went in the direction of Manuel Akanji – who was stood in an offside position. The Switzerland international then swiftly moved his legs out of the way, with the effort eventually trickling past Fulham 'keeper Bernd Leno.
Leno was incensed that the offside flag wasn't raised and the decision surprisingly survived a VAR review, with City killing the game off from there.
(C)Getty Images3August 19, 2023: Liverpool 3-1 Bournemouth
Alexis Mac Allister's face when he looked up and saw the red card waved in his direction by Thomas Bramall told the whole story; the Argentine could not believe his eyes. The tackle, a studs-up challenge on Ryan Christie, wasn't brilliant, but it was difficult to see how it fit the criteria required for a straight dismissal.
In the end, the incident did not affect the result, but an independent FA panel agreed with Mac Allister's bewildered reaction to the sending off, opting to rescind his suspension a few days later.
Getty4November 28, 2023: Fulham 3-2 Wolves
"You can send me flowers, you can ring me tomorrow, you can do what you want – but we should be on 22 points instead of 15," O'Neil said as the dust settled on his Wolves side's 3-2 defeat to Fulham.
O'Neil was reacting to referee Michael Salisbury's admission that he'd been wrong to award the Cottagers a penalty after Nelson Semedo tackled Tom Cairney in the penalty area. It was the latest in a long line of injustices Wolves have had to deal with this term, and it wasn't the only contentious decision at Craven Cottage either.
Tim Ream also seemed fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for a push on Hwang, while Carlos Vinicius' clash with Max Kilman might have seen him dismissed for violent conduct.