Anthony Onifade

Sat 1 April 2023 19:54, UK

Chris Lepkowski was left frustrated by the “poor” refereeing decisions as West Brom laboured to a drab 0-0 draw against Millwall but also argued that referees make fewer mistakes than the players.

West Brom missed the chance to close the five-point gap to their south London opponents who sit comfortably in the Sky Bet Championship playoff places in what was a frustrating afternoon for Carlos Corberan and his team.

The Baggies were made to rue some crucial missed chances and poor refereeing decisions in a denial of a potential penalty despite extending their unbeaten home run in the league, and Lepkowski took to Twitter [1 April] to express his frustration at the result.

He said: “Blame-the-ref culture masks inadequacies on the field. Players making poor calls, mistiming challenges, cheating officials…all need interrogation before refs get called out.

“Refs, even the bad ones (& today’s was poor), make fewer mistakes than players per game.”

Players to blame

Lepkowski is right, the blame culture on referees certainly masks the inadequacies on the pitch and that was certainly evident on Saturday afternoon as West Brom frustratingly missed the chance to close the gap on the playoffs.

Certainly, the refereeing in this country in recent months have been dreadful but blaming them for poor player performances on the pitch is needless and too easy.

West Brom players will only have themselves to blame if they don’t make the playoffs, not the refereeing decisions. How pivotal a win on Saturday will have been for their chances of making it, but the gap just seems to get bigger every week.

Corberan’s men face some crucial fixtures in the coming weeks for which they cannot afford any drop in performance levels or indeed playing the blame game. The playoff destiny is in West Brom hands, not the poor referees.

In other West Brom news, a defender may never feature for the club again after what happened and may even leave for free.