Does the referee have a good back? We are not, around here, the type to overwhelm women and men with whistles; they are part of the game and can be wrong. But this Strasbourg – Lens on Sunday, at Meinau, is an example of a match strained by decisions, or non-decisions, which left both teams frustrated. It is especially the lack of coherence from one to the other which made them illegible. Especially since Stéphanie Frappart also brought up the idea of narrow behavior. She seemed to lose track; in any case it has lost the players in the game as well as the spectators.
« You have to explain, be open, honest », Judged Will Still, stigmatizing an overall lack of communication. One of his deputies, his younger brother Nicolas, was notably expelled (65e) even though according to the Lensois camp, he was just asking the fourth referee for explanations, without any specific names. Arriving at the other end of the field, the referee drew the red without a word. We also saw Brice Samba furious, because he did not understand that Abakar Sylla was not sanctioned for pulling a shirt on M’bala Nzola who was going on goal.
21e : Wesley Saïd is pushed by Guéla Doué in the area. No penalty whistled. The Lensois striker, who also came to impale himself on the Strasbourg defender, amplified his fall and dropped the ball. Logic.
31e : Facundo Medina hits the ball with his arm after a header from Kodir Khusanov against Emmanuel Emegha. No penalty for the benefit of Strasbourg which is grumbling. But, again, it makes sense.
35e : After a perfect opening from Adrien Thomasson, M’bala Nzola heads towards goal. Last defender, Abakar Sylla stops the powerful run of the Angolan striker by pulling his jersey. Mme Frappart returns to an initial fault on Thomasson, forgetting in the process the rule of advantage.
The VAR does not call it either, because, for the video assistance, Sylla’s fault does not constitute a red card: it would not be a question of the obvious annihilation of a goal action. For Rémi Serpaud, northern referee in N2 and N3 who deciphers the situations on X, the criterion of goal distance would in fact be missing. It’s debatable. Brice Samba, the Lensois captain, did not understand in any case…
58e : Jhoanner Chavez pushes Andrey Santos in the back, contact certainly, obvious arm movement, but slight. Like Saïd, in the first period, the Brazilian midfielder added more and fell. A comparable situation but this time, the referee awards a penalty.
Incomprehensible for the people of Lens, who remember in passing that in Monaco then Rennes, Rémy Labeau-Lascary, was denied two goals following questionable decisions and that he had notably been pushed by Lorenz Assignon in Brittany. No guideline, no homogeneity throughout the matches, this accentuates the misunderstandings.
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