Arsenal-Tottenham 17 November with Howard Webb

If we have aspirations of pursuing a referee career and upgrading to Grade 7 and beyond, the first half of today’s Gunners-Hot Spurs match offers some interesting development points. While Howard Webb is not everyone’s favorite referee, he was faced with several critical match incidents. If you have a chance to catch a replay, or recorded it, you may find it instructional.

In the 17th minute, Adebayor left his feet and made contact with his studs using excessive force in a tackle attempt. Referee Webb issued a red card. He did not fall into the trap of thinking that you shouldn’t dismiss a player early in the match. The referee did not create the man-down situation, the player did.