da betcris： Sergio Aguero suggested this week that foreign players are given a harder time by Premier League referees than home grown players. The statistics would certainly seem to find Aguero’s argument unfounded. Of the thirteen penalties that have been converted in the Premier League so far this season, only one Englishman has been fouled in the build-up to the penalty being given (Garath McCleary in Reading’s 1-1 draw with Stoke at the beginning of the season).
da wazamba： In response to Aguero’s claim Sir Alex Ferguson has responded with his own assertion that foreign players go down more easily than British players.
However, does Aguero have a point? Are foreign players treated more unfairly than British players? Or do there off-field reputations mean they don’t always get the decisions from referees? Are there such things as a referee ‘yes man’?
For example, the perfect case study is Liverpool’s Luis Suarez. Aside from his antics on-the-pitch where many believe that the Uruguayan goes down too easily, as we all know last season Suarez was also involved in a controversial race row with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra which led to his eight-match ban.
Arguably, referees are reluctant to give Suarez decisions not only because of his reputation he has made as a player but also as a person. Suarez was denied a blatant penalty after a foul by Nowrich’s Leon Barnett on Saturday. This led Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen, to say it is time for referees to start treating Suarez with the same objectivity as they do all the other players. Reds manager Brendan Rodgers is so unhappy about it that he has subsequently launched a complaint to the head of referees Mike Riley over the mistreatment of players.
As a supporter of Doncaster Rovers, I watched El Hadji Diouf play on several occasions. I would put the Senegalese man in the same category as Suarez. Also, known for going down to easily, Diouf made a name for himself off-the-field. On three separate occasions between 2002 and 2004, Diouf was caught spitting on Celtic and West Ham fans, as well as former Pompey defender Arjan De Zeeuw.
Again, bias as I may be, whenever I watched Diouf play, he would often be turned away for frankly obvious free-kicks when other Doncaster players were given decisions for much less. As a result, it was obvious to see that he was becoming completely disenchanted with the game. And for all I am not his biggest fan, I couldn’t help think that his off-field reputation had led to this point in his career where referees are not interested in awarding him anything.
One man who is another case study for Aguero’s point is QPR striker Andy Johnson. Johnson is an English player who is renowned in football for going down to easily, and has been for a good number of years now. In the 2004/2005 season, Johnson won seven penalties as a Crystal Palace player. That is an incredible amount of penalties to win individually in one season.
And in regards to off-field reputations, the anomaly appears to be Steven Gerrard. Gerrard, a man who has a good off-field reputation, even after being cleared of punching a man in a bar brawl. I would put him in the category of a refereeing ‘yes-man’. Of course, everybody remembers the infamous ‘intent’ decision given by Rob Styles in favour of Gerrard in the draw at Sheffield United six years ago.
Does Gerrard win penalty decisions because he is a popular Englishman who is favourable to referees or just because he makes more runs into the penalty areas than most? (Don’t get me wrong, Gerrard is a quality midfielder, this genuinely might be the case)
Although one can see where Aguero is coming from to a certain extent, and with every argument, there are always a couple of examples to support an argument; I would respectfully disagree with the Argentinean. I think some foreign players are perhaps treated unfairly. But this season, more than any I believe, the standard of the refereeing is very high and unless robots are employed to oversee matches, the issue of reputations and decisions will never cease to exist.
Matt Read
follow me on twitter @Matt_of_the_day