PGMOL chief Howard Webb, who oversees the body tasked with improving refereeing standards in English football, faces a fresh headache with Craig Pawson coming under fire for his performance on Thursday night as Lazio beat CFR Cluj in the Europa Conference League.
Webb was forced to call an emergency meeting this week due to a string of referee and VAR mishaps in the Premier League over the weekend. Firstly, Brighton were denied a possible win over rivals Crystal Palace due to ‘human error’ as the offside lines were incorrectly drawn.
A similar incident unfolded in Arsenal’s draw with Brentford, as VAR official Lee Mason was temporarily dropped after failing to spot that Christian Norgaard was stood in an offside position before crossing for Ivan Toney to equalise.
Amid a dismal weekend for Premier League officials, Pawson himself was among the controversy as he waved away a Tomas Soucek handball during West Ham’s draw with Chelsea, which many felt should have been a penalty.
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The decision prompted a passionate response on social media, with @matchboardmedia writing: “English refs don’t represent the level of the Premier League. Example today in Lazio vs Cluj with a non-existent red card.” On the same incident, @DanGoode16 added: “Wow English refs at it again on the VAR so bad!!! Lazio red card a joke!!!”
Things got worse for Pawson during a busy first half as Cluj star Nana Boateng flew into a high tackle that hurt Matias Vecino, sparking pleas from Lazio players to even out the numbers. They fell on deaf ears, much to the amazement of more fans on Twitter, including @NM_Magnus, who wrote: “45 minutes of the worst reffing I’ve seen in a while.”
Ultimately, playing one man light for the vast majority of the match didn’t completely derail Lazio’s bid for the knockout rounds as Ciro Immobile netted in first-half stoppage time to give Maurizio Sarri’s side a one-goal advantage ahead of the return fixture.
Lazio dropped into the Conference League play-off round after finishing third in their Europa League group, behind Feyenoord and Midtjylland. Cluj, meanwhile, fell one point short of top spot in their Conference League group to narrowly avoid sailing straight through.
Ultimately, playing one man light for the vast majority of the match didn’t completely derail Lazio’s bid for the knockout rounds as Ciro Immobile netted in first-half stoppage time to give Maurizio Sarri’s side a one-goal advantage ahead of the return fixture.
Lazio dropped into the Conference League play-off round after finishing third in their Europa League group, behind Feyenoord and Midtjylland. Cluj, meanwhile, fell one point short of top spot in their Conference League group to narrowly avoid sailing straight through.
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