Howard Webb was told to never ref Liverpool again after FA Cup error vs Arsenal
It is almost 10 years since Arsenal and Liverpool last met in the FA Cup, with Sunday's clash at the Emirates the first since a fifth round meeting in February 2014 which went the way of the Gunners.
Arsene Wenger's side won 2-1, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, three years before he became a Liverpool player, and Lukas Podolski grabbing the home side's goals, and Steven Gerrard's penalty just a consolation for the visitors.
Ask Reds supporters what they remember of that game though, and they are likely to focus on the fact that Gerrard wasn't given a second chance to score from the spot.
The scoreline stood at 2-1 when Oxlade-Chamberlain clearly kicked through Luis Suarez, sending the Uruguayan tumbling to the ground and surely conceding Liverpool's second penalty of the game, but no. Referee Howard Webb looked at the incident and waved play on, much to the disbelief of the visitors. With no VAR, the decision stood.
“In my opinion it was a stonewall penalty,” Gerrard would say afterwards. “It was even more blatant than the penalty which was awarded. The referee was very close to the incident. It’s one you expect to get."
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Liverpool couldn't believe they didn't get a penalty (Kent Gavin Daily Mirror)Reds boss Brendan Rodgers also dubbed it a "blatant penalty" and claimed he couldn't believe Webb didn't give it, while the official was also criticised from within the refereeing community, with ex-ref Mark Halsey claiming that he had too much on his plate.
Halsey told talkSPORT: "Howard has made an error of judgement. He has not had the best of seasons. He has not been the Howard Webb we all know. Perhaps he may need a little rest because he is perhaps doing too much.
Howard Webb decided not to point to the spot (Kent Gavin Daily Mirror)"He is not just refereeing football matches, he is doing a lot of work outside of football. He is doing a lot of after-dinner speaking. Everyone wants Howard Webb because he was the World Cup [final] referee [in 2010].
"He has to take a good look at himself in the mirror and ask himself what he wants. This (refereeing) is his full-time job and he has got to concentrate on this. He has to forget about what he is doing outside of football. He has got to put that on the back-burner and concentrate on what he is being paid for full-time."
The fiercest criticism came from the former Liverpool forward John Aldridge though, as he called for Webb to never referee the Reds again.
Writing in the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge said: "I was still angry about Howard Webb’s woeful decisions from the Chelsea game in December. I was still furious that he didn’t award a penalty when Luis Suarez was brought down in the area – and seething that he failed to send Samuel Eto’o off for a career-threatening tackle on Jordan Henderson.
"So the events of Sunday afternoon at the Emirates Stadium left me raging. Webb gets too many big decisions wrong. How many of these wrong decisions does Webb have to make before action is taken?
"For a start, he should never referee a Liverpool game ever again. The Reds can go back in the archives and use a long list of games to help state their case.
"When he refs us, we do not get the big, big decisions and with Liverpool chasing at least the top four, we must hope he does not officiate our games between now and the end of the season. Howard Webb costs us. Plain and simple."
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