2. Michael Oliver has a day to forget
Often referees have a thankless job. When they do well, they are hardly noticed or acknowledged but when they make a mistake, even if it is a small one, that was only found out thanks to the help of countless replays, they are criticised from pillar to post. On Sunday, Michael Oliver didn’t do himself any favours thanks to some of his decisions. While referees are often asked to let the game flow, Oliver’s decision to do so but not punish offences after the ball went out of play was quite baffling. Januzaj in particular was the victim of several bad tackles in the first half, none of which were punished.
While the referee was certainly right in sending off Smalling, his decision to do nothing when Joe Hart got in his face after the centre back’s first yellow was certainly odd. Not only did, the referee also didn’t give City, two clear cut penalties, a decision which wasn’t helped by his poor positioning. All in all, Oliver didn’t help himself with some of his decisions, which clearly didn’t go down too well with either side.