by Craig Pawson has been appointed referee for Saturday’s FA Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea, and the news has not gone down well with everyone.
Saturday could be the day Liverpool take the last big step in their quest for what could yet be an incredible quadruple of trophies at the end of the season.
Standing in their way at Wembley once again is Chelsea, who came within a couple of millimeters of taking the lead in their extremely entertaining 0-0 draw in February’s Carabao Cup final, which needed penalties to separate the teams. .
It’s up to Pawson on Saturday to call the shots, aided by Paul Tierney in the booth at Stockley Park, fresh from Mikel Arteta’s discontent with him, and the referee’s appointment hasn’t made the fans happy at all.
Craig Pawson is the referee for the FA Cup Final.
David Coote is the fourth official and Paul Tierney the VAR referee.
That is criminal.
— Dave Kaká (@edgeofcoaching) May 12, 2022
Worse, Pawson got the final Saturday 😂😂
—Rhys Jones (@RhysJones29) May 10, 2022
Pawson and Tierney ref and VAR for the FA Cup Final. Amazing
— . (@wr_ghty) May 12, 2022
Apologies, Coote is the fourth official and Paul Tierney is in charge of VAR.
Just give the FA Cup to the man from Chelsea.
— Amartya (@Beckerball_szn1) May 13, 2022
The cup final referee is actually Craig Pawson
— Greenaway 🇺🇦 (@greenaway56) May 11, 2022
Craig Pawson is the referee for the FA Cup Final.
David Coote is the fourth official and Paul Tierney the VAR referee.
What a nightmare. Joke to the highest Order:
Congratulations @Chelsea Football Club in their FA Cup win. #LFC
— Anfield Fortress (@Chase_Goldson) May 13, 2022
Pawson referee for FA Cup final and Tierney on VAR? Yes, we are done.
— Gould (@georgegould97) May 12, 2022
@FA_PGMOL @LFC
Are you serious?Craig Pawson is the referee for the FA Cup Final.
David Coote is the fourth official and Paul Tierney the VAR referee.
— CDM Project (@C_deMatos_DJ) May 12, 2022
Although it’s mainly Liverpool fans who seem to have a problem with Pawson being the man in charge on Saturday, the Reds don’t have a particularly bad record with the 43-year-old referee.
Pawson has been a Premier League referee since 2013 and has led the Anfield team 31 times, suffering just six defeats in that time.
However, they lost to West Ham United earlier this season with the Sheffield man calling the shots, in a match that left Jurgen Klopp unhappy.
There was much controversy in the game as the Reds felt that Alisson was fouled in the build-up to the first goal and each side could have sent off a man.
After the match, Klopp was unhappy with some of the decisions, saying: “I think it’s a clear foul by Alisson, Ogbonna’s arm is here. The referee made it easy for him and said ‘let’s see what the VAR says’ ‘.
“They said it wasn’t clear and obvious, I don’t know why, which is really weird. It’s not marking the man, it’s blocking the goalkeeper.”
“People will say I’m looking for excuses, I’m not. I accept that we’re not too good at losing football games. Today we lost it, that’s not good, but I accept it.”
“But when we talk about situations in a game, you just need normal decisions from a referee. He didn’t do that.”
“The way I saw it (Cresswell’s tackle on Henderson), it was a clear red card. You can’t argue. You can’t go into a challenge like that.
“But obviously we can’t make these decisions and I didn’t know what the referee would say now, but in the game he seemed confident that his decisions were correct. It’s all up to the referee.”
Pawson will no doubt be in the spotlight when he starts at Wembley on Saturday, will he and the other officials be called upon to make a big decision?
