Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has aimed a dig at Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka for his antics during the 1-0 win over Aston Villa at the weekend.
The England international scored the winner for the Gunners at Villa Park, but wasn’t happy at an aggressive challenge from Villa defender Tyrone Mings at one point in the game.
Writing in his column for CaughtOffside, Halsey backed Villa manager Steven Gerrard over the issue, insisting that Saka needs to be ready to deal with physicality in the Premier League.
The ex-ref also said that players like Saka don’t help referees if they exaggerate and over-react to certain challenges.
“We all know the English game is very physical and everyone loves that about our game,” Halsey said.
“I think sometimes players don’t help referees the way they go down screaming and trying to get players cautioned, and then as soon as they get their opponent cautioned they’re up and running around again.
“I think it is frustrating for players and managers, and it makes refereeing a very difficult job, because they often will look at player reactions in those situations.
“The challenge by Tyrone Mings, he gets the ball, but it’s just that follow-through that catches Saka. Maybe it wasn’t as hard as Saka made out, and that puts the doubt into the referee’s mind.
“I’m a bit surprised Saka was complaining about it. Obviously referees have a duty of care towards players, but they also have to be mentally tough and not let players influence them too much.”
Idiot Halsey. Saka took about 10 minutes to run off that challenge and was later substructured with an injury. The challenge was as hard as he ‘made out’
The English game is physical until an Arsenal player makes a similar tackle.. they get a red for what the refs call a physical tackles from other teams.. nonsense!!!
There are tackles and tackles. Football is a physical game especially so in the Premiership.
However there are players who go overboard in their tackles. A good referee will know the difference,
he was bleeding