Stan Collymore reacts to ‘Cringeworthy’ incident in West Brom win v Brighton
Stan Collymore has labelled the Lee Mason controversy in the West Brom win over Brighton over the weekend as “Cringeworthy.”
The Premier League official is assumed to have picked up an injury in the game and has since been taken off his duties for the coming weeks.
Lewis Dunk was allowed to take a quick free-kick before the goal being disallowed, something that benefitted the Baggies, but has since been destroyed.
Writing in his Mirror column, Collymore has called for more European officials to be brought into the Premier League to improve the standard.
“After Saturday’s incident with Lee Mason and following Sunday’s episode with Stuart Attwell, the time is now right to introduce Pan-European refereeing,” he said.
“I’m watching our officials through my fingers these days because so much of their work has become cringeworthy.
“That’s what happened with Mason on Saturday, when he allowed Lewis Dunk to take a quick free-kick in Brighton’s clash with West Brom.
“It was a case of, ‘I’ve given the decision, it’s the right one, but hang on, the optics are bad, I’ll blow the whistle again…’ Then all hell breaks loose and it ends up looking dreadful.”
How many times will we need to have this discussion this season?
VAR is causing more problems than it is solving at this stage, and the officiating alongside that simply isn’t helping as they don’t appear to be on the same wavelength.
The technology was used to determine whether or not Mason, an experienced referee, had blown his whistle twice at The Hawthorns, and it took nearly four full minutes.
For once, we may actually agree with Collymore and despite VAR finally benefitting us for once, change may have to come sooner rather than later.
In other West Brom news, Semi Ajayi return is critical for the Baggies against Everton