Christopher Foy (West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City)

West Bromwich Albion 2-3 Manchester City

Referee: Christopher Foy

Assistant 1: Peter Kirkup

Assistant 2: Matthew Wilkes

4th Official: Michael Dean

TRR Assessor: Adam (Lancashire)
Date: 04/12/13
Venue: The Hawthorns, West Midlands
Kick Off: 20:15 (delayed by 15 minutes)
Competition: Premier League
Match Difficulty: Normal

THE REFEREE

Foul Detection

GOOD

Comment...
The referee's foul detection was generally good. The match began to get a little physical towards the end of the first half, and the referee did very well to let several challenges go, playing some good advantages in the process. There were a few fouls missed by the referee, though on one occasion the assistant should have signaled or alerted the referee to the foul as he was in a much better position. The referee was correct to award Manchester City a penalty in the 73rd minute, after West Brom's #5 fouled Manchester City's #13. The referee also correctly dismissed a penalty appeal from West Brom after Shane Long went to ground in the penalty area early in the 2nd half.  

Positioning

POOR

Comment...

The referee's positioning was generally poor. On numerous ocassions, the referee was too far away from play, resulting in him having a poor view of play throughout the match. The referee also had his back to play several times during the course of the match due to his poor positioning. Luckily for the referee, the two main incidents in the match occurred when he had taken up a good position on the pitch, making the referee's call far easier. The referee's positioning from set pieces was better, though the referee's positioning in general was below standard during the match.

Man Management

SATISFACTORY

Comment...

The referee's man management during the match was satisfactory. The referee did talk to players during the match, but missed several opportunities to warn players after fouls, with some players getting away with some poor challenges without a word from the referee. It was nice to see a referee not falling for antics of players faking injury in order to get the opponent into trouble. On one ocassion, a West Brom player was feigning injury on the ground after a foul by a Manchester City player. The referee was fully aware of the severity of the tackle and knew there was little chance the player was genuinely hurt. The referee was seen to be ordering the play onto his feet, saying 'Get up' repeatedly, before walking away from the player.

Card Issuing

SATISFACTORY

Comment...

The referee showed 2 yellow cards during the course of the match, both of which were justified. However, the referee failed to show a yellow card to West Brom's #9 for a dive within the Manchester City penalty area early in the second half. Manchester City's #42 was also very lucky to escape a caution after several cynical attempt to bring a West Brom player down in the same move, but only a foul was awarded.

Fitness

GOOD

Comment...
The referee's fitness was of a good standard. No problems detected.

THE ASSISTANT REFEREES

Assistant 1 - SATISFACTORY [8.0]
Assistant 2 - GOOD [8.3]

Comment...
Assistant 1 failed to indicate a clear foul directly infront of him by a Manchester City player. The assistant was in a far better position to judge the foul than the referee, yet didn't flag for a free kick. Despite this, the assistant made some good offside decisions during the course of the match. Assistant 2 had very little to do during the game but was always up with play and prepared to assist the referee when required.

OVERALL

SATISFACTORY

SCORE

8.2/10