The Premier League’s Key Match Incident (KMI) Panel has unanimously adjudged in favour of the on-field officials in every Sunderland 0-0 Leeds United flashpoint.
Every week, a frustrating result is often followed by scrutiny over referees and their impact on how the game panned out.
Leeds being winless in five means referees have been slated for five games in a row. The Premier League has since shared its view of events in a recent Leeds stalemate.
Sunderland 0-0 Leeds United: KMI Panel share unanimous verdict on controversial incidents
Our absolute bore-draw away to Sunderland at the back end of October was dominated after full-time by claims from both sets of fans about terrible officiating from Stuart Attwell.
From Leeds’ perspective, a ‘challenge’ (rugby tackle) late on from Luke O’Nien on Dominic Calvert-Lewin was waved away as the Leeds striker appealed for a penalty. O’Nien got none of the ball while Calvert-Lewin was hauled to the ground.
From Sunderland’s perspective, Reinildo and their support were understandably incensed as Jayden Bogle escaped a red card for a clumsy challenge. Not looking where Reinildo was, he caught the Black Cats defender’s ribs with his studs.
However, the Premier League’s KMI panel have unanimously agreed with Attwell’s on-field decisions:
On Bogle: “The on-field no red card decision was supported. Bogle’s foot is high but there is little force or
intensity in the contact.”Then on Calvert-Lewin’s penalty shout: “The on-field no penalty decision was supported. Roefs gets clear contact on the ball.”
Refereeing decisions are consistently terrible – Leeds United need to worry about performances
Daniel Farke has noted refereeing decisions in a lot of our bad results in the Premier League. To be fair, I totally understand it.
However, as this game highlights, there are controversial calls both ways, and it doesn’t detract from our own shortcomings.
Attwell can be criticised on a weekly basis, after all. But we still weren’t anywhere near good enough to win that game, and the same goes for Bournemouth.
It’s frustrating when all of these ‘bad’ decisions pile up more and more, of course. That said, I’m more bothered about performances.
