I was pleased to see Mike Dean stamp his authority on the Chelsea players and make Frank Lampard take his penalty 3 times until the Chelsea players had stopped encroaching into the penalty box.
Actually I was hoping Lampard would miss so Dean could make him take it again to penalise the 6 West Ham players who were almost level with the penalty spot when he took the 3rd one.
What is going on in the Premier League. The rule in football is that no one must be in the penalty area or the semi circle on the edge of the box. You look at any penalty in the Premier League every week end and you will see 10 players galloping almost level with the penalty spot at the time the kick is being taken.
So well done Mike Dean for starting to address this. The correct action is to re-take if a goal and forwards encroach and re-take if missed if defenders encroached. It's about time referees started enforcing the rules
The other thing that really bugs me about penalties and was clearly demonstrated by the penalty save from Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen last Saturday against Wigan is that they are now, to a man and pretty much routine, at least a metre off their line when the ball is kicked. Sorenson certainly was a metre off his line at the time the Wigan penalty was kicked.
That gives a tremendous advantage to the goalkeeper yet the rules state that the goalkeeper must be on his line when the ball is kicked. If he is not and the kick is not scored then the kick should be re-taken.
How can the referees not see this going on. If they can see it why are they not enforcing the rules.
The answer from Sorenson last Saturday when questioned in his post match interview was "well everyone does it". So, no one seems to care that the goalkeeper is breaking the rules to gain a massive advantage.
It's the referee's job to properly apply the rules of the game.
So come on guys, sort out penalties in the Premier League please, otherwise I might have to throw something at the tele in frustration at what is going on
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