The Premier League’s key match incident (KMI) panel delivered a frustrating verdict on a key refereeing decision in Tottenham’s 1-0 loss away to Sunderland.
In the 63rd minute of the match between Spurs and Sunderland earlier this month, Black Cats striker Bryan Brobbey was competing for a long ball with Spurs defender Cristian Romero.
Romero used his body to shield the ball from Brobbey, but a two-handed push from the Netherlands attacker resulted in the Spurs centre-back colliding with his goalkeeper, Antonin Kinsky, seriously injuring both.
The collision resulted in a partial knee ligament tear, which ended Romero’s Premier League season while putting his World Cup campaign with Argentina in serious doubt.
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To add insult to injury, the Premier League’s KMI panel, an advisory body made up of three former players and a representative from the PGMOL and the Premier League each, have now ruled that Bryan Brobbey should have been awarded a yellow card for his push on Romero (BBC).
Brobbey, who was already on a yellow for an earlier altercation with Pedro Porro, would have been sent off if the correct decision had been made on the pitch according to the KMI.
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In a 3:2 vote, the panel ruled that the referee Rob Jones made a serious mistake during the match in not booking the Dutch forward again.
Spurs went on to lose the game 1-0, a loss which only deepened their relegation crisis, while a sending off for Brobbey would have forced the Black Cats to play the last 30 minutes of the match down to 10 men.
Even more worryingly, this is only another in a series of refereeing mistakes and controversial decisions made by referees this season.
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According to rulings made by the KMI, Rob Jones has been at fault for multiple errors during games and has one of the worst records in terms of failing to award a second yellow card. Jones is responsible for five of the 12 mistakes made this season in failing to give a second booking during a match.
This marks yet another referring error with serious consequences made by Premier League referees and highlights the ever-worsening refereeing standards in England’s top division.
Spurs fans will vividly remember their frustration when three completely contradictory rulings on fouls in the box were made in Tottenham’s matches.
Goals against Spurs were given in their clashes against Fulham and Liverpool, despite the goals following a push on Spurs’ defenders. Most famously, Randal Kolo Muani’s North London Derby goal was ruled out for his incredibly soft push on Gabriel.
With multiple rounds of the Premier League still left, we have already seen more refereeing errors than over the course of last season entirely (58 errors as of end of March, to 44 last year).