Analyzing Slide Tackles With Speed and Distance

Today, I was watching Michael Oliver in Everton vs Manchester United game and I found it interesting how the English official missed some perfect opportunities to stamp his foot on the game, gain the control of it very early and prevent further "malicious" challenges from players. Given the nature of the league and the level the players are allowed to challenge the ball, it makes refereeing extremely particular to concentration and movement during these games. Therefore, if you lose your focus and concentration for even a brief moment, you may end up missing some key match incidents early in the game. Those incidents actually may help you gain the players trust and get through the game rather easily, if you haven't missed them. A perfect opportunity for Michael Oliver and a suitable example for us came in the 11th minute of the match from a player who had the most EPL starts in history: Gareth Barry.

 

Barry Ibrahimovic Challenge

 While Barry's intention may very well be to play the ball in a fair manner, I, as a referee take this challenge as a message to his opponent Ibrahimovic early in the game, saying that he is not going to have an easy game. As referees we should anticipate this and prevent possible injuries resulting from this type of tackles. As we see, Oliver calls the foul and chooses to talk to the offending player instead of cautioning him for this reckless tackle. 

Now, I believe we all agree that this tackle should be cautioned for reckless challenge and also the player should be given a message by talking as well. Blue player comes with speed, from a distance with enough force to endanger his opponents safety. In addition, he completely misses the ball and doesn't make fair contact with it. Yellow card. Keep it simple. Everybody happy.

Frozen image showing Oliver's positioning

If we look at this frozen image of the tackle, we can see that Michael Oliver may actually have been blocked by another player, therefore misses the nature and severity of the tackle. Had he anticipated this obvious challenge and moved to his right a few steps, he would have seen it clearly. Therefore, the message we need to take from this image as referees is, we must move to create the best angle to see the challenge at all times, especially early in the game. The distance in this case is not important but the angle is paramount. The 4th official could also see this clearly from his angle and give the necessary input.

Now, of course,  if you didn't give a card for that, you should be prepared for what comes 5 minutes after that from the other team:

 

Rojo Two Feet Challenge

A two feet challenge from Marcus Rojo, leaving the ground and staying in the air for nearly 2 yards. Obvious red card, no exceptions, no considerations and nothing else. All the referees should get this decision right for the safety of the players! Anticipation, decision making, sending off .

Michael Oliver Positioning 2

Again, when we look at this picture, we see that the referee doesn't have a good angle on what's coming next from Rojo. Since he didn't quickly move to his left or right to create an angle as soon as Man Utd lost the possession and the ball turned over for a possible counter, Oliver stayed flat to the challenge and therefore missed the severity of it. The arrow shows Oliver's angle of view. 

Given the referee is caught off foot and doesn't have the right angle to judge the tackle, the Assistant Referee should be prepared to give the most important piece of information as soon as Rojo leaves the ground two feet. At this picture, the AR should be thinking "Yellow' already. Once Rojo lands, and as we see, misses the ball, then the communication should immediately focus on the severity and the color of the card: "RED. RED. RED. RED" this is a position that the AR should definitely insist on the red card. it is a poor challenge and any referee would give a red card, had he or she seen it.

Rojo flying in with no control over his body.

The opposite view for assistant referee.