05 Feb 2026 18:37:29
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool v Newcastle United - A Quick Liverpool Perspective
05 Feb 2026 19:02:04
How very dare you Ed to be so scathing on my favourite referee haha. The guy is hilarious, I've never seen a ref so lost and vacant when a decision needs to be made.
At least Hooper is honest but just useless, which is much more than can be said for Oliver or Taylor.
Great review as always though.
{Ed001's Note - thank you mate. Hooper is truly useless. One of the worst ever.}
05 Feb 2026 20:16:12
Trying to figure out which EPL refs aren't truly useless is a hard task.
I thought Tony Harrington was decent, but then he reffed us at some point least season and screwed something up. Can't remember what it was for the life of me, but iirc it was fairly egregious.
05 Feb 2026 20:35:31
Craig P is decent.
05 Feb 2026 20:54:45
The ref who reffed our league title-clinching game vs Spurs at Anfield last season is a good ref, IMO. Just don't know his name.
05 Feb 2026 21:07:08
ED001 spot on with the review, I've been to countless games over the years n with Slot making the crowd bored and not using them is his biggest mistake, the crowd can make things happen, I remember going to the semi final at Anfield v Chelsea and we were definitely the underdogs, but the crowd was on fire, the best atmosphere I've ever been involved in and we won against all the odds, think its too late for him now though.
05 Feb 2026 22:10:51
OliRed that was Craig Powson. He's pretty fair.
{Ed025's Note - they are all fair when they give decisions for Liverpool Biggun, its the ones that dont give you all the free kicks, penalties and offside calls that are the crap ones mate..am i right?.. :)
05 Feb 2026 22:43:22
Great review - I agree with all of it except for 1 player which I'll get to in a sec. I was at the game and have some takeaways:
1) bumped into slot before the game, wished him luck and said he thanks had a smile for me but the man seem dejected, so different to klopp it's unbelievable
2) I had a good 10 hours of pre and post game socialising with all sorts of fans, most are willing to give slot a chance to end of season (appreciate that's not the view here)
3) aside from 1 taxi driver - no-one is talking about isak at all
4) Wirtz and ekitike - they are really starting to look like something.
When wirtz went off - he got a really good reception and most seemed to stand up and clap
5) thank goodness this endless slow
Passing around seemed to decrease, it was there in patches and you could
Sense the frustration build but it seeemed to disappear
6) now to the disagreement- I thought Salah was terrible, he took A few corners and just looked so dejected like someone who didn't want to be there, fans tried to get behind him, but it was so hard to, almost everything he did failed. He went off and no-one cared, we just all moved on.
7) finally an enjoyable game . with a win, long may it last.
06 Feb 2026 00:18:24
It seems unbelievable for someone with Salah's record but to me he looks like he's lacking confidence.
His touch isn't there, he rushes his passes and snatches at his chances but the biggest telltale sign to me was when he was running through on goal. The old Salah would've taken a touch across the defender which makes the defender unable to tackle him without getting sent off and would've put the ball on his left foot. He was ahead of Hall he had the room to do it but instead he almost ran away from him, scared of the contact then just poked at the ball.
I guess even Mo Salah is human.
06 Feb 2026 05:33:50
Listen guys having been a referee for approx 35 years at different levels let me tell you all a couple of things 1st of all I HAD to retire due to arthritis in both my knees as I refereeed to games both Saturday and Sunday as some of the leagues would collapse due to know referees I was extremely fit as I could run backwards faster than most players could forwards fitness was my best attribute could hold my own with the stick and colourful language players seemed to moan but when told if you don't like it then don't give it but the main point as to why I didn't get to the top was tattoos and a was only a postman at the time now i work for immigration. You may think that shouldn't hold you back but ask yourself this any top level or even FIFA refs have any visable tattoos or are any of them unemployed look at their jobs if they have a good high profile job them the higher ranks seem to think they will make a good official while some actually do its a jobs for the boys scheme it's not what you know it's more of who you know Mr Oliver has made too many high profile errors recently so he's not ny favourite a used to like Anthony Taylor he's similar to Oliver in my opinion I like the look of the new boy hallam coming through but there's no carracters in the game now as they're no allowed what happened to having banter talk to the players it works and helps calm them down later if needed opinions please ?.
{Ed001's Note - top level referees are full-time, so of course they are not unemployed, nor do they have high-profile jobs.}
06 Feb 2026 06:29:58
Cheers for prompt reply mate to be fair I forgot about the refs are full time but what about before they went full time and also of the ones who are just below the premier hoping to make the grade why no visible tattoos.
{Ed001's Note - it was always jobs for the boys and always will be, though I personally don't give a toss if they don't allow tattoos. It was always something that stopped you getting people facing jobs in the past, I don't know why you would be surprised that it still might be a thing. They can be intimidating to some and that is not a good thing when you are dealing closely with people and trying to create the right atmosphere.}
06 Feb 2026 09:51:50
Tattoos no, but hair weaves, yes.
06 Feb 2026 13:05:58
I'm a bus driver, I have visible tattoos on my hands and arms. Everyday I deal with old folk, students, middle aged workers. Talk to people nicely and, believe it or not, they don't care about my tattoos. In fact, I'm incredibly popular with the older folk. A tattoo doesn't stop a professional performance in any sector.
{Ed025's Note - i think tattoos are fine Tris, mind you i dont like them when it covers the neck and face myself mate...especially on birds..
06 Feb 2026 14:00:09
It is about refereeing the game to the rules set out by the FA not making it up as they go along as they are doing .
Simon Hopper should be refereeing children's football because he is useless at adult football. As we seen v Newcastle he blamed Gapko for Burns kicking Gapko off the park why?
Because he had booked Burns a minute before for kicking another of our players and would of had to have been red carded and he bottled it this should of been investigated but no it was brushed under the carpet like all other bad decisions referees make .
YNWA.