Neil Swarbrick (Aston Villa v Arsenal)

Aston Villa 1-3 Arsenal

Referee:  Neil Swarbrick

Assistant 1:  Scott Ledger

Assistant 2: Andy Halliday

4th Official:  Martin Atkinson

TRR Assessor:   Daniel (Merseyside)
Date:  13/01/2014
Venue:  Villa Park
Kick Off:  20:00
Competition: Premier League
Match Difficulty:   Easy

THE REFEREE

Foul Detection

GOOD

Comment...

The referees Foul Detection was generally good.  He allowed a relatively easy game to control to flow quite well and intervened in the majority of cases where a foul had been committed.  He also made good use of the option to play advantages rather than immediately pull back challenges which also contributed to the flow of the game.  There were a few cases when he failed to identify foul challenges,  most notably in the 26th minute when a careless foul was committed by the Arsenal #20.



Positioning

GOOD

Comment...

The referees Positioning was generally of a good standard.   He was always up with play and on majority of occasions throughout the match adapted effective positions where he was both close enough to play to have a good viewing angle to detect foul challenges whilst maintaining enough of a distance not to interfere with play.  There were though a handful of occasions during the match when the referee could of perhaps adopted a more effective position.

Man Management

EXCELLENT

Comment...

The referee showed excellent man-management for the duration of the game.  He regularly spoke to players throughout the match and adapted his man-management brilliantly to best suit the situation with communication with players ranging from  quick words of advice in passing to when required more formal rebukes and discussions.   The referee demonstrated a strong rapport with the players and maintained good match control.

Card Issuing

SATISFACTORY

Comment...

The referee stamped his authority on the match early on correctly cautioning the Aston Villa #8 in the opening couple of minutes for a foul challenge.   The other three cautions he issued during the match where also justified.   However,  the referee failed to caution the Arsenal #19 in the 2nd minute of additional time for delaying the restart of play, when the player kicked the ball away when a free kick had been awarded against him.  He followed this by laughing at the decision to which the referee failed to take any action.

Fitness

EXCELLENT

Comment...
The referees fitness was of an excellent standard.

THE ASSISTANT REFEREES

Assistant 1 - VERY GOOD [8.5]
Assistant 2 -  VERY GOOD [8.5]

Comment...
Both assistants had strong games, correctly making offside calls and also assisting the referee in other areas such as the awarding of throw ins and identifying fouls in which they had a better view.

OVERALL

GOOD

SCORE

8.4/10