Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce is clearly no fan of the A-League allowing guest referees from overseas to take charge of games.
Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce doesn’t believe his team’s A-League clash with Brisbane should have had a guest referee in charge.
Japan’s Ryuji Sato refereed the Roar’s 2-0 victory over City at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
Sato, who was also in charge for Australia’s friendly against Lebanon in Sydney on Tuesday, was given the A-League match as part of an exchange program dating back to 2014.
His compatriot Jumpei Iida refereed Friday’s match between Western Sydney and Newcastle at Spotless Stadium.
Joyce believed a communication error between Sato and the fourth official contributed to his team’s confusion about a possible VAR review in the moments before Brisbane’s first goal on Saturday.
“It’s just sprung on you, I don’t even know why you’ve got a guest referee,” Joyce said.
“You’ve got procedures in place in the country that you’re doing and then people come in, there’s different dialogue from the fourth official to us that they were reviewing it, we’re trying to tell the lads to concentrate but we’re waiting on a review.
“There’s got to be some kind of consistency.”
Roar coach John Aloisi was a fan of Sato’s cameo however, saying the exchange program between the FFA and the Japanese FA had merits.
“The players enjoyed it as well, he did let the game flow quite a bit,” Aloisi said.
“It was a game that didn’t have a lot of stoppages, I thought it worked well. It’s a good idea them swapping over … it gives them more experience when they have to referee (Asian) Champions League or international games as he did the other night.”
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
Under-pressure Western Sydney coach Marko Rudan has failed to front up for his post-match press conference after a 7-0 thrashing from Melbourne City, the…
Round 19 was an interesting weekend of football with no draws, 19 goals in six matches, two five-goal games on Sunday and for the…
