For the second time this season QPR have Wold Cup Final referee Howard Webb in charge of their match this Sunday. Given his record and reputation with our opponents Manchester United that probably isn’t a good thing.
Referee >>> Howard Webb (South Yorkshire), World Cup final referee in 2010.
Assistants >>> Darren Cann (Norfolk) and Andy Garratt (West Midlands), Cann was Webb’s official at the final in South Africa and was also the lineman at the centre of the controversial penalty decision in the Villa v West Brom fixture.
Fourth Official >>> Andre Marriner (West Midlands), refereeing our Wednesday night match against Sunderland.
Tottenham 3 QPR 1, Sunday October 30, 2011
Gabbidon wasn’t given any time to settle in by the Spurs attack. Within a minute of him coming on Spurs won a free kick wide on their left, a second rather soft decision of the day from referee Howard Webb as Barton was adjudged to have fouled Bale. Van der Vaat came across to deliver the ball and produced a glorious, undefendable cross to the back post where Adebayor had the seemingly simple task of heading home from close range but somehow contrived to plant the ball past the post. Gilt edged chances missed would be the theme of the Togo forward’s afternoon.
Disinterest and lethargy is a lethal combination against a team with Spurs’ undoubted quality. The home side was marshalled magnificently by Scott Parker. The 31-year old, 1950s haircut slicked back with rainwater, was like an expensive dominatrix to QPR's German businessman. Time and again Rangers ventured towards him, time and again he butchered them – one uncompromising tackle followed another. Often he did so on the wrong side of the law, but Howard Webb seemed just as in awe of this all conquering midfield display as the rest of the players on the pitch and allowed the former West Ham man off without a card which he can count himself fortunate for. It didn't help QPR's cause that once won the ball was quickly moved from Parker to Modric and the torment began again.
Howard Webb allowed this game to flow reasonably well, and didn’t produce a card all afternoon, although he incurred the wrath, and puzzlement, of the visiting supporters around the hour mark when first he punished Jay Bothroyd for a high boot when the striker appeared to have actually pulled off a fine piece of ball control and then failed to yellow card Parker for a horrible lunge onLuke Young as QPR attacked down the right.
Their anger at the lack of a card for Parker soon turned into celebrations though. Webb had allowed an advantage to be played after the Young incident and Rangers won a corner. Given their lack of threat from set pieces so far this season and Tottenham’s height in the penalty area here wasn’t a great deal of anticipation among the travelling faithful as Barton stepped up to deliver but on this occasion Heidar Helguson met the ball well and diverted it back towards Jay Bothroyd who just nipped in ahead of Anton Ferdinand to head home his first ever QPR goal at the back post. Now things were interesting.
Tottenham: Friedel 7, Walker 7, Kaboul 7, King 7, Assou-Ekotto 6, Lennon 7, Parker 9 (Sandro 86, -), Modric 9, Bale 8, Van der Vaart 8, Adebayor 6
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Gallas, Defoe, Bassong, Livermore
Goals: Bale 20 (assisted Lennon), Van der Vaart 33 (assisted King), Bale 72 (assisted Lennon)
QPR: Kenny 8, Young 6, Ferdinand 7, Hall - (Gabbidon 9, 6), Traore 6, Faurlin 7, Derry 5 (Mackie 46, 7), Wright-Phillips 7, Barton 7, Taarabt 4 (Bothroyd 46, 8), Helguson 7
Subs Not Used: Murphy, Hill, Buzsaky, Smith
Goals: Bothroyd 62 (assisted Helguson)
Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire) 7 Allowed the game to flow and kept the cards in his pocket, but was rather lenient with Scott Parker and others. No big decisions wrong in a pretty well run contest overall.
It’s amazing to think that prior to the Spurs away game Rangers have managed to avoid Howard Webb since way back in 2003 when we were a Second Division side. He refereed three QPR games that season and Rangers fans won’t forget two of them in a hurry.
His last QPR fixture was the play off final at the Millennium Stadium when Rangers were beaten in the last minute of extra time by Andy Campbell’s strike which promoted the Bluebirds and left Ian Holloway’s side to fight another season in the third tier. Webb showed five yellows that afternoon, three to QPR players. That was in stark contrast to Webb’s previous fixture with us a month previously when he was in charge for our famous 2-1 win at Brentford when Marc Bircham lashed home a spectacular winner with the final kick of the game – four yellow cards that day, three for Rangers. Back in the September of that same season he took charge of our 2-0 home win against Swindon with goals from Kevin Gallen and Richard Langley, one player from each side received yellow cards.
The previous season, 2001/02, he took charge of our 2-2 draw away at Blackpool when Leroy Griffiths scored twice and a 1-0 home win against Peterborough when the only goal came from an Andy Thomson penalty.
QPR 0 Chievo 1, Saturday August 2, 2008, Pre Season Friendly
Despite being second best to this point QPR actually got the ball in the net after 24 minutes only to find the goal very harshly disallowed by Premiership referee Howard Webb. This was QPR’s first corner of the game and it was immediately noticeable that Chievo approached the situation by leaving three men right up on the halfway line – one on the centre spot, one on the extreme wide right and one wide left. I’m a great believer in leaving men up when defending a corner because it forces the opposition to pull threats out of the penalty area and Chievo’s unusually ambitious set up meant that Gorkss, who scored eight goals for Blackpool last season, was back on the halfway line with Mahon, Leigertwood and Ramage – none of them slouches in the air.
Still from Ledesma’s delivery Damien Delaney bundled the ball in at the back post only to find Webb whistling for a foul by Hall at the near post – the fact that Hall had been wrestled into submission and almost had the shirt ripped from his back by his marker apparently worthy of a free kick against him. The decision was typical of Webb on the day who, with the assistance of a diabolical linesman on the South Africa Road side, looked very, very rusty himself making poor decisions and being needlessly picky throughout the game. QPR could count themselves unlucky to have this one chalked off.
Howard Webb, picky and fussy all afternoon, saved Blackstock’s blushes by ordering a retake and this time the striker made no mistake with a similarly tame effort to the other side of the keeper – the Chievo man dived the wrong way on this occasion. In fairness it was hard to get excited, it wasn’t a penalty in the first place and Blackstock’s first kick was so poor that Webb seemed to order a retake out of pity and charity, a point made rather too forcefully by Marco Malago who was booked for his comments to the referee in the aftermath of the goal.
Blackstock was replaced by Sam Di Carmine after this and in truth he’d done little in the 65 odd minutes he was on the pitch. I wasn’t impressed with Di Carmine either. He won little in the air, didn’t hold the ball up well enough, showed a poor touch on numerous occasions and posed Chievo no threat whatsoever.
The last half hour of friendly games are turgid to watch and seemingly pointless to take part in because every time the ball goes dead, and with Webb in an uncharacteristically whistle happy mood that was very frequently, both teams make substitutions. Dowie sent on Bolder for Mahon, Stewart for Gorkss and Ainsworth for Leigertwood and Chievo responded with four or five changes of their own. Gorkss certainly did himself no harm with a calm and composed display at the back and he really looks the part, particularly bringing the ball out from the back and distributing it. I have great hopes for the partnership between him and Hall on this evidence.
Having said that Stewart almost scored with his first touch ten seconds after entering the field. Another good corner from Ledesma found the Jamaican unmarked at the back post but Squizzi just about managed to palm the ball off his forehead and out for another corner in an aerial battle. Webb’s insistence on lecturing everybody in the penalty area before every set piece only added to the stop start nature of the game.
QPR Cerny 6 (Camp -), Ramage 6, Hall 7, Gorkss 7 (Stewart -), Delaney 7, Mahon 6 (Bolder -), Leigertwood 6 (Ainsworth -), Agyemang 5, Balanta 7 (Alberti 6), Ledesma 7 (Rose -), Blackstock 5 (Di Carmine 5)
Goals: Blackstock pen 69 (assisted Alberti)
Chievo: Squizzi, Mantovani (Scardina), Mandelli, Malago (Frey), Maroclini (Rigoni), Bentivoglio, De Oliveira (D’Anna), Iunco (Farias), Rickler, Bogdani, Italiano
Subs not used: Aldegani, Gasparetto, Moro, Sorrentino, Pellissier, Sabe, Grippo
Goal: Bogdani, Bentivoglio
Referee – Howard Webb (Rotherham) 5 - Normally a superb referee, certainly the best in the country, but got key decisions wrong today and was fussy throughout. Shouldn’t have disallowed the goal in the first half and it was never a penalty in the second half, although that decision was given by one of the equally poor linesmen. Like everybody else looked rusty after a summer break.
Last season he showed 141 yellows and six reds in 45 games – 3.13 bookings a game. Both his biggest hauls, six yellows and a red at Shakhtar v Roma and seven yellows for Hapoel Tel Aviv and Lyon, came in Champions League games hinting that he may referee European games slightly differently to English league fixtures.
There are alo strong suggestion that he referees Man Utd games differently to others as well. Opposition supporters have regularly been heard to chant “Fergie’s rent boy” at the official after a series of questionable decisions in United’s favour. Last season Liverpool’s Ryan Babel found himself charged by the FA after Tweeting a photoshopped image of Webb in a Man Utd shirt after he awarded the Reds a penalty incorrectly in the very first minute of Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford last season. He’d previously awarded United another incorrect penalty against Spurs when they were trailing 2-0 in a game they went onto win 5-2.
League One >>> Now here’s a name we hadn’t seen for a while (almost to the point where we were about to break out the retirement champagne at LFW Towers) Trevor Kettle is finally listed again this weekend. The clueless oaf has Exeter v Scunthorpe on Saturday. Andre Marriner, fourth official at our game on Sunday and referee at QPR v Sunderland on Wednesday, has MK Dons v Preston live on Sky on Saturday evening.
League Two >>> Stuart Attwell has Crewe v Crawley, much more his level I’m sure you’d agree.
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