Thursday 27 May 2021

Analysis: Clément Turpin's performance in the EL Final

Villarreal defeated Manchester United after an epic penalty competition to win this season's Europa League in Gdańsk - but how did the blue-clad officials team, led by referee Clément Turpin from France, get on in this big assignment? Find out in our analysis below. 


Analysis


While the quality of play in this final was mostly bemoaned by the world's media, actually the match officials had to face quite an interesting match in my view. Clément Turpin did a widely sound job, and - most importantly for a final - the wider focus quite well away from the Frenchman in charge. 



Big Decisions


Let's start with the Key Match Incidents


52' - Potential penalty to Manchester United (tripping)



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By a strict interpretation of the book, the defender commits a foul here - the attacker is first to the ball before he is carelessly kicked. Admirers of the streetwise-ness the world over should celebrate the defender's, if I may say so, rather brilliant obfuscation of this scene by going down injured himself. 

Is this call enough for a big final though? Surely not - the attacker's control of the ball is a pass, not an attempt to keep possession himself, ie. even if he wasn't carelessly tripped, it would have made little / no difference to the attack. For UEFA, penalty is not really an option here (especially in a big final). 



65' - Potential penalty to Manchester United (handling)



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Turpin was correct to let the game go on - the ball was quite expected for the defender, but he does everything to make his body surface, smaller, not bigger. Not a deliberate handling, correct decision. 



84' - Potential red card to Villarreal no.8 (SFP)



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Perhaps the most interesting scene of the whole final. In my interpretation of by-the-book, I am really struggling to find reasons arguing that theoretically this is reckless only, yes the intensity is only medium-high, and not high, but that isn't taking away from in a vacuum, I would instruct this scene as a red card offence. 

Again, we have to ask - is this enough for a red card in a big final? Again, surely not, as mentioned the force was not ultra-high, it is a late challenge after a centre, Manchester United players don't mob the referee after the foul, only after a replay the extent of the challenge becomes clear. So UEFA don't want a red card in this scene. 

However, after two incidents already in Ch, we have to focus again on a decision in an SFP-question being taken by the video match officials. It is very obvious, at least to me, that it was not one of the on-field officials who instructed Turpin to issue a yellow card to the offender of this scene. 

Look, of course I can understand the logic, and would support a common-sense approach that if in a crucial moment in the EURO final such a procedure is needed to reach a clear second yellow card, then fine, we don't want robots in charge of the biggest games. 

But using this as a matter of course in 'normal' caution scenes must stop. UEFA have to strongly act against this in the run up to the EURO, and tell video match officials that such procedures will not be tolerated. Common sense yes, but further reducing the needed alertness of on-field officials knowing in the back of their minds they can rely on this gimmick is not on. I trust UEFA to act in this way



113' - Potential penalty to Villarreal (handling)

 


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There is actually more than one interesting facet to this scene (off-the-ball striking offence, mobbing the referee) but in this bit we will focus on the handling call itself. 

It is pretty clear that referee Turpin did not / could not assess the handling from his only, only perhaps fourth official Slavko Vinčić had any chance to do that. But I agree with the final decision, also from the Video Match Officials, no penalty. 

UEFA refereeing chief Roberto Rosetti was at pains to point out in the UEFA.com article about how the games will be officiated at EURO 2020 that referees have to understand "natural movement" when assessing handling scenes. This is a good example for that mantra I think. 

I would contrast this with the penalty which Damir Skomina gave, ironically to Manchester United, in their game with Paris in 2019. In that situation, the defender jumps to block the ball square-on when the ball hits his arm, which was away from his body - penalty. 

Here, the defender tries to block the ball square on, before it hits his arm. Being used for co-ordination, and contrary to Paris - Manchester United aforementioned, not a tense one in blocking a shot, the correct call is play on in this scene. Correct non-intervention even despite a "serious missed incident" in my book, even if it was never 'in danger' in a UEFA match. 

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There is one final point I'd like to make to this effect - the (surely?) deliberate lack of replays in for instance at 52', or for the onside played for the allowed Manchester United equaliser, is really disappointing and I would urge UEFA to discontinue that in time for the EURO in a couple of weeks. 



Managing the Game


Clément Turpin refereed this game according to the principle of mostly staying in the background, and realised a solid-good performance in doing so. 

The game became interesting for the ref after the first fifteen minutes. He correctly resisted a caution in a borderline scene at 15', before issuing a smart verbal warning at 17' - it was interesting to note the topic of charisma in the comments, in both these scenes, I think Turpin really excelled with his gestures, mimics and manner!

The Villarreal players got a bit irritated after that, and it would have been sensible to award them a calming freekick at 18'; there was another missed foul a minute later. The French referee did smartly (and correctly) award them a freekick at 21', which successfully placated them. 

I would have advised Turpin to draw the line with the late, borderline careless-reckless foul at 28' with a yellow card. Instead, he chose to signal "I warned them at 17', now I'll warn you here" in a balancing kind of way. It would have been interesting to have seen what happened had Villarreal not scored from that freekick, but as it happened the referee could essentially reset his approach after that. 

If Turpin chose to stay in the background in disciplinary measures, he also chose the same tactic in foul selection. If you ask me, the real excellence in football refereeing is when you select a line, rigorous or forgiving, and consistently impose that on the players in the conviction that it will be successful, and of course the skill is when that line is beneficial to the match.

The Frenchman on this evening selected a more background approach, jumping in with whistles when necessary. It worked fine for sure, and this is criticism on the highest level, but I was not altogether convinced by his foul detection (eg. 21', 25', 47', 67', 69'). To be fair, I must come back to an excellent comment by an anonymous user during this season - this was not "going deep" in foul selection. 

The approach to cards worked fine but I thought Turpin gambled a bit by not issuing sanctions at 106' (SPA) and 108' (challenge), but in the end it all worked out okay for the referee. The opening card at 54', probably not a fully mandatory one to be fair, was good refereeing. 

The missed off-the-ball strike at 113', was definietly more reckless than the expectedly given one at 82', but then correctly dealt with the mobbing in the extra time scene according to UEFA's strict guidelines - calm, then yellow card. I guess UEFA will also be satisfied with how dealt with the dissent at 65', too. 


Teammates


It would have been to see some replays to confirm it, but Cyril Gringore gave a very crucial and correct onside for the Manchester United equaliser - well played. Less importantly, the procedure of the delayed flag at 70' was too chaotic, and should be avoided. 

Otherwise, a good performance by him and Nicolas Danos when they weren't too challenged. Turpin did crossover with Danos for a throw-in at 73', and fourth official Slavko Vinčić discreetly signalled for a throw one way which ultimately went the other (25'). 


Balance


Clément Turpin's performance is far from the headlines, which perhaps the best barometer of success in a major club final. Even if we can cast doubt on the theoretical correctitude of some of the big decisions which he made in the match, for UEFA he had the appropriate response to each situation.

The most disappointing moment of the final was the VAR-instructed caution at 84'. I am very steadfast in my view that UEFA have to act against that in all but the most ultra-extreme situations, of one which this scene was definitely not. 

The rest of the match was handled on a satisfying level, kudos to Cyril Gringore for his equaliser onside, and in general the officials could look back on a job pretty well done in Gdańsk

30 comments:

  1. Mikel your assumption that the caution at 84 was VAR instructed is a very risky/speculative one, and not consistant in analysing the performance. If you think that this is the case the performance becomes unacceptable for me. The VAR protocol has to be followed. Not doing so in a final is really unacceptable. But since there was no "VAR check" message I think there was no VAR procedure at all...

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    1. Come on fellows, the referees are a team. They avoid risks. Players fake referees, try to professionally fool them wherever possible, to maximise benefit for their teams.
      If for a very nasty tackle the VAR advises a yellow card (see Brych in Paris, there I had same impression), then this is against protocol written, yes, but it's clever and for their own and the game's benefit. Put yourself in their boots, and think about what you what do.

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    2. I agree - it feels odd to affirm that VAR obviously intervened here, when there is nothing to show for it. It would be a grave infringement of VAR protocols to do so, and all communications are recorded, so UEFA would obviously know if that were the case. Seems risky for the referee team to do it that way, for 'only' a YC.
      It reminds me of the speculation surrounding the Zidane headbutt in 2006, which a lot of people concluded was 'obviously' seen on TV, with nothing to show for it except circumstancial speculation.

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    3. You think it's more probable UEFA/Rosetti want to see a four year-old protocol developed by bureaucrats followed literally or a clever, good performance without public attention? I prefer the latter.

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  2. I beg to differ on how you state that the caution at minute 84 was VAR instructed??? We know better that to speculate this kinds of things. We know the rules and procedures that should be followed and I am not saying that they are not broken rules and procedures at times but until it is stated otherwise we have to refrain from saying such!!!!

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    1. It was not the first time it happened this season in top UEFA matches. The final decision is important, regardless of how it was achieved. If you have the technology available, use it to get the best outcome.

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  3. OT: Busy days for Hugh Dallas who will also observe Mateu Lahoz in CL final. Gijs De Jong (NED) will be the delegate of the match.

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  4. Thank you, Mikael, for this great analysis, which I mostly agree with. However, I am not a friend of speculating about inner-team procedures, like in 84'. One can definetly question the correctness of the procedure, but as long as no evidence of a broken protocol is presented, I believe that Turpin and his (Video-)Match-Officials worked protocol-like.

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  5. Germany:
    Sascha Stegemann (FIFA 2nd) referees today's First leg of the 2.Bundesliga relegation play-off FC Ingolstadt - VfL Osnabrück.

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  6. Sorry but I'm already tired of constant deliberating if something is enough for a penalty/red card in a big final.

    As independent bloggers you should focus more on what would be the optimal and technically most correct decision instead of blindly adopting political correctness. Call things what they are!

    Respect for the analyse though, I always find them very interesting.

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  7. Having now seen a video of the incident at 84 minutes it is definitely SFP. Final or no final it is my belief this should have been punished with a red card. I must say it is possible that the VAR instructed the yellow card. However I think it is even more possible that it was simply a late call from the 4th official, who would have had the best view of the on field match officials. You also have to keep in mind that the language barrier could have played a part in the delay to issue this caution. There is not enough evidence for your certainty that there was a breach of protocol.

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  8. Yep, that's also my point. As far as the analyses are usually quite good and interesting readings, I really don't understand the constant tries to defend the referee at any cost and to justify his/her decisions no matter how absurd they are. I don't understand how we help each other by not pointing our mistakes - is it so difficult to express your own true opinion without using political phrases like acceptable. We are indipendent bloggers who have the possibility to say that something is correct or wrong in our point of view. I don't think that we are obliged to look for the smallest possible justifications of a referee's decision when we know that there is a better solution. For me this is just an example of a double-face behaviour. I am sure that when somebody here critisize a referee it is not with the purpose to insult him but to show a better solution. I also asume that this is also a geopolitical difference as usually people from Eastern Europe and other continents are much more direct with their expressions that the people from Western Europe. Actually I know that saying 'something is not quite good' in Western Europe is equal to 'this is a blatant mistake' in Eastern Europe. Anyway, I much more appreciate when somebody says his true opinion that using politically correct phrases.

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  9. Other than talking about individual moments, my only criticism is, as you mentioned, foul selection. I felt there were a number of times when Villarreal players tricked Turpin into calling soft or nonexistent fouls. Other than that, I don’t have much to complain about Turpin’s work. “Pretty good” is a good summation of his final.

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  10. Thank you for the analysis, Mikael.

    I actually agree with anonymous at 14:17 and 14:50. I also think there is no VAR intervention on the 84' incident. If there is a VAR intervention, Turpin will take a look and then make the decision. I do not want to debate this should be yellow or red, but IMO VAR should at least play its role.

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    1. I think that many of the readers here still don't understand that we refer to an ILLEGAL VAR intervention here. I don't understand what is Sam talking about. How will Turpin take a look if they all know that it is not allowed??? We just say that it was obvious that Turpin received a message in his ears by VAR AGAINST the protocol.

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    2. Yes, you understand everything, you are the best expert of analyzing football refereeing in the world. I think referee committee should hire you. What do you think?

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  11. Huge minute in the Serie B promotion playoffs. Orsato issuing 2 YC’s to Venezia’s #7 within moments of each other - https://streamable.com/7drwf4

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    1. And missed penalty in 2nd half

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    2. IMO no PK, but also no simulation. Very challenging match tonight!

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    3. Correct and supportable 2 YC by Orsato

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    4. Busy minutes also for Adam between 22:32 and 22:36 issuing three times the same posting. 😉

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    5. 🙃 Always have issues on the phone

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    6. Haha I think Adam did not intend to do so. The blog sometimes crash and when users try to copy paste the same comment, the original comment can be seen again after refreshing the page.

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    7. There were 3 episodes of potential soft penalties. Orsato was consistent throughout the match and let the teams play on in the penalty area. The result was consistency on both sides for penalty episodes. Very intense match, 10 fouls in the first 10 minutes of the match.

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    8. Orsato is a very natural referee!

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  12. I would like to ask if anybody has any info or knows a site where we can see the list of the Elite referees in the other confedrations, except Europe. Deeply appreciating any kind of info on the topic. Thanks in advance.

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    1. In some confederations outside Europe there isn't even a categorization of FIFA referees, but mostly these info are not public.

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    2. AFC used to post the composition of their Elite panels, but recently could not find them anymore on their website. Maybe some national FAs in Asia still post them?

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  13. Highlights of Genc Nuza's performance in the Turkey - Azerbaijan friendly

    https://we.tl/t-bjhe4lvHwm

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