Honest Mistakes: Week Six
Catching up now as we move into SPFL week six. The Champions had what was considered a tricky assignment in Livingston. Plucky challengers The Rangers took on a resurgent Motherwell at home.
The impact of big calls being incorrect can then be evaluated using the framework outlined here -> Honest Mistakes in the SPFL.
SPFL Game Week Six
23/09/23 Livingston vs Celtic
Incident 1
Referee John Beaton Game Minute 13th Score At Time 0-0
Incident Hatate goes down in the box Outcome Penalty to Celtic and YC to De Lucas Evidence Livingston 0-3 Celtic | Maeda Scores Stunner As Hart Sees Red | cinch Premiership - YouTube
At 0:25
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict Hatate goes down in the box
Initial on field decision: Penalty to Celtic & De Lucas cautioned
Hatate runs into the box gets in front of his man and appears to be fouled by De Lucas.
Looks to be a straightforward decision as the defender stretches out his right foot, gets nothing on the ball and clips the running right leg of the Celtic man.
Verdict: CORRECT DECISION
Expected Points
Outcome
No impact
Incident 2
Referee John Beaton Game Minute 25th Score At Time 0-1
Incident Sangare and Scales clash Outcome Foul to Livingston and YC to Scales Evidence https://x.com/AJ_CELTIC/status/1705566720155324551?s=20
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict Sangare and Scales clash
Initial on field decision: Scales cautioned
Sangare & Scales both look to win the ball. Sangare’s left leg is out stretched and just wins the ball. Scales appears to pull out of the tackle and it is more Sangare’s overstretched momentum that collides into the Celtic player. I feel any injury incurred by Sangare is a result of his momentum and his twisting back then collides into the knee of and Scales. Scales can consider himself very unlucky to have received a caution for not doing anything wrong here. I do not feel a foul has been committed here by either player.
Verdict: INCORRECT DECISION - no foul or caution expected
Expected Points
Outcome
No impact
Incident 3
Referee John Beaton Game Minute 28th Score At Time 0-1
Incident Hart clashes with Sangare outside the box Outcome Free Kick to Livingston and RC to Hart Evidence Livingston 0-3 Celtic | Maeda Scores Stunner As Hart Sees Red | cinch Premiership - YouTube
At 1:12
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict Hart & Sangare clash
Initial on field decision: Free kick to awarded to Livingston. Hart sent off
Sangare beats the offside trap and Hart races out of his goal in an attempt to clear the ball. Sangare just beats Hart to the ball and then receives the full weight of Hart’s outstretched body. A foul has been committed here in my opinion as Sangare does nick the ball away from Hart’s leg.
So, there are now two considerations for the on-field referee to process.
Is the challenge by Hart deemed to be reckless in nature (yellow card) or with excessive force/endangered the players safety (red card)?
Although I have some sympathy for the Celtic keeper here as he does seem to have eyes only for the ball, he is jumping to kick the ball with his studs raised (due to the bounce of the ball). This means his foot and body hit Sangare above waist height and clearly hurt the Livingston player. The height of this foul I feel does meet the criteria for ‘endangering player safety’ and so would agree with the on-field decision to show the red card.
Verdict: CORRECT DECISION
Expected Points
Outcome
No impact
23/09/23 The Rangers vs Motherwell
Incident 1
Referee Alan Muir Game Minute 35th Score At Time 1-0
Incident Motherwell player goes down in the box under challenge from Tavernier Outcome No decision Evidence https://x.com/Zeshankenzo/status/1706668429858726181?s=20
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict Motherwell player goes down near Tavernier
Initial on field decision: No foul committed
Cross comes into the box and Tavernier & Motherwell player running towards the ball. Tavernier is quite clever here as they are running together he leans in slightly to get his body in front of the ball. This makes the Motherwell off balance and he jumps and then falls to the ground.
In real time I was not convinced there was enough contact for a foul to have been committed and simply thought the Motherwell player had been out muscled fairly.
However, in slow motion there does appear to be a clear infringement committed by Tavernier as his right leg appears to trip the Motherwell player. If it had been just his upper body contact I would say not enough for a foul, but the right leg clearly prevents the Motherwell player for fairly jumping for the ball.
Totally understandable at that speed why the referee didn’t see it, but surprised it was not reviewed by VAR and recommended for the referee to have another look at it.
Verdict: INCORRECT DECISION. If VAR had recommended on field review, I believe referee would have awarded a penalty kick (not a red card though as Tavernier does make some attempt to challenge/play the ball)
Expected Points
Outcome
TRFC +0.47
Incident 2
Referee Alan Muir Game Minute Score At Time 1-0
Incident Tavernier and Spittal come together as Spittal runs towards goal Outcome Foul to TRFC Evidence https://x.com/Zeshankenzo/status/1706257346589016387?s=20
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict Spittal runs towards goal
Initial on field decision: Free kick awarded to Rangers
Initially the Motherwell player appears to have done nothing wrong rather than outmuscle the Rangers man.
However, the referee when awarding the defensive free kick clearly indicates the Motherwell player has pulled on the shirt of the defender at the start of the move, before the coming together inside the penalty area. Not enough video to discredit what the referee has seen here (and shirt pulling does happen often and can quite often be difficult to see from certain angles)
Verdict: CORRECT decision
Expected Points
Outcome
No impact
Summary
My thanks as always to the Yorkshire Whistler.
James Tavernier’s foul on the Motherwell forward made neither the highlight packages nor days of press scrutiny. Funny that.
In terms of the overall position:
The Rangers have 0.16 less points than expected due to the impact of Honest Mistakes.
Celtic lead by four points after six matches.