Dermot Gallagher, the former Premier League referee and one of Sky Sports' go-to voices for elite officials, has said that Lee Mason's fellow referees will protect him amid the inevitable fall-out from his performance during Albion's 1-0 defeat at West Brom on Saturday.
In analysis delayed until after Newcastle's draw with Wolves as a result of the lack of time between Premier League games that Albion's defeat fell in the middle of, former strikers Dion Dublin and Jermaine Beckford also critiqued the penalties missed by Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck and spoke about Mason's stand-out moment of deliberation, offering a somewhat sage insight into another debacle for Albion that was this time mired in contention.
"He's in the right environment because there has never been a better time to be a referee at this level," said Gallagher, upon being asked what the future might hold for Mason after perhaps the most incendiary refereeing moment the Premier League will see this season, when he allowed and then disallowed an Albion goal that had been scored from a quickly-taken free-kick by Lewis Dunk.
"The support package is brilliant: sports psychologists, he's got 18, 19 colleagues who will ring-fence him – 'there but for the grace of god, go I.' They will be supporting him."
Scrutinising a bizarre incident that remains inexplicable irrrespective of loyalties, Gallagher accepted that Mason had blundered and tried to explain how his second whistle before the ball hit the net, as well as his consultation of VAR advice before disallowing the goal, were justifiable.
"Lewis Dunk’s very close to him," Gallagher said of the seconds before the quick-witted, precise strike from just outside the penalty area.
"Lee’s lining up the free-kick, he’s getting everything as it should be for him to control the situation. You see Lewis Dunk say... he’s probably realised that [goalkeeper Sam] Johnstone is on his post, they’re going to take a quick free-kick.
"Lee, without thinking, has gone ‘yes’, he’s stepped out of the way. He’s taken a quick free-kick, he sees Johnstone move, realises he’s not in control of the situation and has blown a second time to stop play.
"In his mind, at that point, he thinks, 'I’m going to give the free-kick, retaken' – which I think is the right decision.
"I’ve been in situations in games, many years ago, where I’ve lost focus for a little while. That’s the key thing: I think Lee has lost his focus here.
"He’s tried to regain his focus; he’s realised, having had the free-kick taken, when the players surround him, he’s just lost a little bit of concentration and he’s not quite in that zone for making an accurate decision.
"It is a good thing that he’s gone across to the bench [to consult VAR] – it’s given him that little bit of thinking time, it’s created that time for him to get his thoughts together, to get himself together. When he goes back, he’s in a better frame of mind to restart that situation."
Dunk was as persuasive in his initial strongly-worded post-match comments as he appeared to have been with Mason on the pitch, and his convincingly forthright post-match interview earned support from Beckford and Mason.
"He made the wrong call," Beckford said of Mason. "Lewis Dunk’s said to him, 'look, can I take a quick free-kick?' as he walks up to him.
"He says ‘yes’, blows the whistle. Lewis Dunk does nothing wrong, sees Sam Johnstone off his line, takes the free-kick, scores. If there’s any fault anywhere, it should be on Sam Johnstone for lining up the wall from the post."
Dunk's second attempt, which was comfortably gathered by a better-placed Johnstone, seemed to highlight how the enraged captain had been punished for alertness.
"As a player, we do not care what the referee is thinking, what he’s done," said Dublin. "What I’ve done [in Dunk’s case], as a player, is I’ve asked if I can do something and if I do it well and get rewarded for it, that’s not my problem [the mix-up]."You’ve got to deal with that. He’s [Mason] made a mistake. He’s held his hand up, he’s made a mistake, simple as that."
Gallagher has a friend in Dublin, but not one who believes referees should receive greater immunity from calamities than players.
"I love Dermot, I really do," declared the ever-affable former Premier League champion. "But I just think if I get a chance and it comes across the box and I miss it and it goes over the bar, I can't say, 'can I try that again?'
"It's just that your chance has gone. You make a mistake: I'll get dog's abuse [for mistakes I make] from the players in the changing room: 'you should have scored, you should have won the game.'"
That lack of shared accountability is arguably what separates referees from footballers and managers the most. In December, Wolves coach Nuno Espirito Santo also spoke of a loss of focus when he said that both teams had been distracted by a number of questionable decisions by Mason when his side lost to Burnley, and it is hard not to suspect that a lack of action to address any potential issues from that match could have contributed to the farce at The Hawthorns.
"The referee will have to take that on board," hoped Dublin. "Dermot said he’ll learn from that and he’ll get better. If he’s made a mistake, he’s made a mistake.
"Hold your hands up – referees make mistakes, we make mistakes. Just hold your hands up, simple as that.’
No number of confessions are likely to atone for Albion's missed penalties in either half. Only a side as repeatedly close to victories as Brighton could achieve the dubious distinction of becoming the first Premier League side to send two penalties against the woodwork and out.
"I don’t know what he was thinking of when he took this penalty," Beckford said of Gross's first-half battering of the crossbar from close range. "He doesn’t look like he’s approaching it with any conviction, confidence or anything."
Turning to substitute Welbeck's low shot against Johnstone's right-hand post, Beckford said he had suffered from an over-reliance on precision.
"He tries to put it right in the bottom corner," said the recently-retired hitman who averaged well over a goal per game for Leeds.
"Just put your foot through the ball, put it straight down the middle. You’re up against it, you’ve missed a penalty already, you’ve had one of those [Dunk free-kick] situations go against you. Just be safe."
Dublin felt Albion's culprits had tried too hard. "If there are any nerves, get your laces through the ball and strike the ball as hard as you possibly can towards the target," he said. "If there are any nerves at all, don’t try to be too clever."
Gallagher implicitly accepted that the refereeing performance should be a one-off disaster, leaving in the air the question of whether Dunk will be fined for making that point more forcibly.
"He's got coaches," he said, adding that Mike Riley and Adam Watts, of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, would be "root, cause and remedy".
"It's all part of the learning curve," claimed Gallagher. "[They will ask] 'what got you into this situation? How can we ensure that it never occurs again – not only for Lee Mason, but for any other referee?'"
Dublin had a resounding note of optimism for Albion fans worried by a second defeat in six days and a fourth consecutive Premier League game without victory.
"I'm not worried about Brighton," he suggested. "I think they've got enough. Their manager has got everybody onside at the football club.
"They’re going in the right direction, they play some good football. When their stadium's full up and bouncing with their fans, it'll be a great place to be and a great place to watch football."
No comments:
Post a Comment