Did Mike Dean...

[davejohnno1]

See that Hart had touched the ball twice or simply take Joe Harts word for it?

MOTD analysis shows him 50 yards away with a view obscured by 2 players.

The decision was ultimately right but I'm interested to know if he saw it himself, guessed or simply took the word of the player from the big club?

I'm almost certain if Rob Green had passed to Aguero in those circumstances, the goal would have stood and Dean would claim not to have seen it.

[westhammustsell]

The coverage I saw showed it was the linesman who spotted it and relayed that info back to Mike via his mic.

[seychellesstokie]

Never thought I'd say this a couple of seasons ago, but Mike Dean looks like one of the very best referees in the Premier League

[Clem Fandango]

Nov 9, 2014 8:03:26 GMT westhammustsell said:

The coverage I saw showed it was the linesman who spotted it and relayed that info back to Mike via his mic.

This. Sky at half time showed the linesman speaking into his headset.

[StokieBoy31]

Yep the linesmen said "double touch" and Mike Dean whistled before Austin hit the back of the net.

[snoogle]

Dean didn't have a clue as per usual....liner spotted it!....to be honest liners do the sum part of fook all nowadays (can you remember the last foul throw given, or flag across the chest for a penalty?) So its good to see one spot something.

[potter30]

Just goes to show how piss poor MOTD is. Sky did highlight the fact that the liner had spotted it hours before MOTD went on air- yet they still focused on the ref.

I've stopped watching it- their edit of the highlights don't do the games justice!

[snoogle]

I noticed the same...like my arse MOTD like my arse!

[Staffsoatcake]

Nov 9, 2014 8:43:00 GMT seychellesstokie said:

Never thought I'd say this a couple of seasons ago, but Mike Dean looks like one of the very best referees in the Premier League

It just goes to show how wank the others are.

[basingstokie]

Nov 9, 2014 9:41:02 GMT snoogle said:

Dean didn't have a clue as per usual....liner spotted it!....to be honest liners do the sum part of fook all nowadays (can you remember the last foul throw given, or flag across the chest for a penalty?) So its good to see one spot something.

Can't really expect Dean to spot it in fairness, he took up the right position Imo. If he'd been close to Hart and then long goal kick, knock on and fast Man City attack he'd have no chance of keeping up with play and would rightly be criticised.

[hchpotter]

Unfortunately the referee and his assistant got the double touch incident right.

Dave does raise a very pertinent question about big club v small club bias. The incident which annoyed me most was picked up immediately by Gary Neville ( oh, the irony!). When Gael Clichy wiped out a QPR striker early in the match no booking was awarded and the commentator remarked on what a good decision the referee had made because he took into account the appalling weather conditions. Minutes later QPR ( Karl Henry I think) commits an identical foul and gets a yellow in the blink of an eye. No questions asked, no friendly word in the ear. Neville immediately slammed the ref for his inconsistency.

I sometimes think we have a persecution complex on here. No ref deliberately sets out to stitch Stoke up. However, we do suffer from a very real bias which exists against smaller clubs. If the league have decided to stamp down on the wrestling in the box at set pieces (and they don't seem to have followed up with any other decisions since Ryan's) I'm all for it. However, a precedent would never have been set by making an example of John Terry, Martin Skrtel, Vincent Kompany or any other centre back from one of the "big" clubs.

Mike Dean's performance yesterday was, on the whole, a good one but the leniency shown to Clichy (who picked up a yellow later in the game) was not extended to the smaller club, and is typical of how Premier League games are refereed week in, week out.