Written by Chris Sutton, Daily Mail
23:37 03 December 2023, 23:54 03 December 2023 Updated
- Simon Hooper made a big mistake, but so many players have made mistakes.
- That includes Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who missed the opening goal.
- Human error happens and Hooper will realize he shouldn’t have blown the whistle.
Simon Hooper made a big mistake, but many players probably made bigger mistakes in this 3-3 thriller.
That included Erling Haaland, who, despite missing the opening goal, shouted in Hooper’s face as if he was the only one who had stopped Manchester City from winning.
Human error happens and Hooper will now know he shouldn’t have blown the whistle. He initially played the advantage following Emerson Royal’s foul on Haaland, but changed his mind after a pass to Jack Grealish.
No one knows for sure if Grealish scored a goal, especially since the Tottenham players were chasing him.
But what I do know is that the abuse of match officials is absolutely grotesque.
A quick search on social media revealed last night’s abuse, insults, and threats.
This is a disastrous result of the faceless nature of social media, and Hooper should not have to suffer such ugliness for failing to take advantage of a game of football.
He will feel bad enough as it is knowing that PGMOL could be left out of Wednesday’s Sheffield United v Liverpool duties due to this mistake.
When you feel the urge to blame Hooper for what happened, remember that he wasn’t the only one who made a mistake yesterday.